Customer Reviews

The Poetry of Nursing: Poems and Commentaries of Leading Nurse-Poets (Literature and Medicine)

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This book approaches nurses' writing from a new angle. Not only are the nurses' poems presented, but alongside each poem is a commentary on the circumstances of the writing of the poem: in other words, the poetic process behind the finished product. It's a mistake to label these writers "nurse-poets," suggesting that they are somehow separate from "poets." They are poets who are also working as nurses, just as there are poets who are working as butchers and teachers and undertakers and housewives. The poets' commentaries in this collection reveal hints and information about the process of writing that will be valuable to all writers, not only those who happen to be nurses. Some readers may fear that "nurses' poetry" might be either too sweet or too grim. But this is a collection of human poetry, good poetry, poetry that stays in the mind and the heart.

As a retired nurse, I especially enjoyed the thoughts shared in such a lovely form.