Inside Duke Medicine
Well-versed: Enter the write-a-poem contest
posted October 3rd, 2008The Health Arts Network at Duke (HAND) is inviting all Duke staff, students and patients to enter the ninth “Write Us a Poem Contest.”
The contest is open to the entire Duke community, including current and former staff, patients and their families, students and volunteers. The contest has a Dec. 1 deadline.
Send one poem about your experience as a health care provider, a member of the Duke Healthcare team, a patient, the family member of a patient, a volunteer or a medical student. Or send us a poem about your experience of healing, illness, treatment, loss, grief, relief or any aspect of life in our medical center.
The contest will be judged and winners will receive prizes and be honored at an awards ceremony in April 2009. All who enter will have their poems published in the anthology, They Wrote Us a Poem IX and have their work on display in the MARS Gallery of Duke North in the fall of 2009.
For contest guidelines, visit Duke Human Resources website:http://hrweb-dev.oit.duke.edu/events/poetry.html or contact Grey Brown, HAND literary arts coordinator at brown097@mc.duke.edu or 684-6223.
Here’s an excerpt from the poem, Before We Said Goodbye, by Kimberly Monroe, Office of Community Relations, Duke University Health System:
Before we said goodbye
We gave thanks for the approaching light
A loving glance
A final touch
An assurance that now all is right
For Monroe, entering the Write Us a Poem VIII contest turned out to be more than just submitting a poem. “My uncle suggested that I write a poem as a part of my grieving process. Someone suggested that I submit it for the Write Us a Poem contest. I didn’t want to let go of that poem. It was so personal. But having it printed in the contest anthology and sharing it with others has been deeply rewarding. People see me in the halls of the Medical Center and tell me they read my poem and that my poem has helped them in their own grieving process,” Monroe said.