NPs with the "write" idea

Connecticut Nursing News, Jun-Aug 1998 by Davis, Cortney

How do you unwind at the end of a stressful day? Many of Cortney Davis' colleagues love to golf, read, or take long walks. She chooses to write poetry about her work, exploring the joy and sadness witnessed daily as a nurse practitioner (NP) in a busy women's health clinic at Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut:

Physician authors have been sharing their creative thoughts with readers for years, but now a new revolution is at hand: At last, creative nurses are writing about our profession as well.

Why should NPs write about their work? When we turn difficult moments into poems, we let go of those anxieties that contribute to stress. At the same time, when we honor a patient through poetry, we hold on to important memories. If, in addition, we move others to experience the event with us, then we've succeeded.

For example, writing "To the Mother of the Burned Children" helped me "put down' the awful moment when I had to inform this injured patient that her children had died. It also memorialized her children in some small way and I hoped it would encourage readers to empathize with her tragedy.

How do you begin to write creatively about your NP practice? The first step is to move from that hectic, clinical space to a more tranquil, open state of mind. Taking a walk, reading, or simply sitting and staring may help you enter a meditative mood. Next, find a quiet room or outdoor spot where no one can interrupt you. Then, re-enter a particularly moving experience-a moment with a patient or something you've witnessed. Recall the sensual details: sound, smell, touch, images. Once you've replayed this scene, write about it, letting the events and feelings spill onto the page without shaping or censoring them. When the writing seems overwhelming, keep going. If you can't recall specifics, make them up-the genuineness of the emotion is what counts.

Weeks later, you'll want to tighten and clarify the piece, shaping your-work into a poem or essay. You may even want to take courses to sharpen your skills. I went back to school to earn an MA in English and I joined writers' workshops.

When you're ready, go public with your writing. Books such as Poet's Market (published by Writer's Digest Books in Cincinnati) will give you directions on preparing and submitting your poems. If you need financial assistance, consider applying for fellowships and grants open to poets. Although some may have fairly strict criteria, requiring extensive publication histories, others may not. Grants and Awards Available to American Writers (PEN American Center, 568 Broadway, New York, NY 10012) can help you find those suiting your qualifications.

Unfortunately, nursing journals do not publish poems by nurses. However, Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine and JAMA do. Another good place to send work about nursing practice is Mediphors, a biannual literary journal of the health professions (PO Bos 327, Bloomsburg, PA 17815). Also, Vista, a nurse-run publishing house, publishes poetry and fiction books by nurses (Editor Carolyn Zagury, 473 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ 07740).

Let your clinical mantle fall away and allow the muse to enter. Remember: Clear, unsentimental writing about what we see and-do as NPs will help patients, other staff and physicians to understand not only the facts, but also the magic of our profession.

To the Mother of the Burned Children

When you ask, when your voice is your own again, and you know you're not waking from sleep or a vision of kids napping, the power gone, candles shaking light across their faces, I'll give it to you straight: Your children are dead.

You can cry one long, sound and well let the bed quake, the burned flesh fall away. I could bring shots to lull you, pills to stay your mourning but instead I'll tell you: Walk the fire in your mind. Carry them out, one by one, through the rooms thick with smoke. Carry your children, then put them down safe outside the ring of heat.

Call them by hame: Ramon, Priss, Jamal.

Tell them Wait. Wait here. Wait.

-Details of Flesh

Cortney Davis, MA, APRN, has been writing, publishing, and conducting poetry readings and workshops for ten years. She is author of Details of Flesh (1997), as well as co-editor of Between the Heartbeats: Poetry and Prose by Nurses (1995). (Source: NP Directions. Volume 2. Number 3. on. from Cort 1998 NEX Publishing. Inc. Reprinted with permission. CNA also received permission to reprint poem. Tb the Mother of the Burned Children from Cortney Davis and Calyx Books.