Dear Poetic Medicine Friends, The call of poetry-as-healer has such deep roots in my life. I suddenly remembered a particular root the other day. I want to share with you that connection/root from 1975 of reaching the marginalized with poetry. Please read on! Stephen Levine, Joy Shieman & My Path of Poetic Medicine Usually, I say that it got going in 1981 when I first met Stephen Levine as a participant in his Conscious Living, Conscious Dying retreats. I became more than a p

Honoring the Life and Service of Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen by John Fox, PPM The Institute for Poetic Medicine offers a deeply felt gassho* bow to the life and service of Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen. Surrounded by loved ones, Rachel passed away peacefully on August 8, 2026. She was 88 years old. Commonweal, the Cancer Support Place and Community she founded with Michael Lerner in 1976, writes: Join us in celebrating the life of one of Commonweal’s most beloved voices: Rachel Naomi Rem

Dear Poetic Medicine Friends, Gathered here are essays, poems, photographs given to me by those who in very significant ways helped with the visit of Diné Elder, Lupita McClanahan from Canyon de Chelly in Arizona to Mountain View and Carmel Valley, CA. Lupita’s talks, The Path of Hozho-Teachings of the Beauty Way In Difficult Times, brought together many people thirsty for sane, spiritual reflections and direct experience of what it is to live on this earth in a conscious and

Dear Friends of Poetic Medicine, How is your summer? I hope summer is bringing uplift and flourishing green. For millions of people, however, especially in the American East, Mid-West and in Europe, summertime is bringing extreme, life-threatening heat. The fires in Canada have sent intense smoke into the northeast part of the country. That level of heat and smoke aren't anything to mess around with. Please keep yourself hydrated and as cool as you can be. Please find safe an

March 10, 1939 to March 1, 2026 “I am sure most of you would agree – my mother was unique. Some of you have shared wonderful notes and words to describe her many qualities. One that stands out to me is her determination. When she was determined to learn something, she never gave up. In the late 1960’s she wanted to learn more about meditation.” Debby McIsaac - McRock from her Eulogy on April 18, 2026 Self Realization Temple, Encinitas, CA I am writing to you in appreciation

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this. ~ Henry David Thoreau Dear Friends of Poetic Medicine, Is there a moment today you especially paused to treasure? By “treasure” I mean that a precious moment and what was happening within it met your heart space and you felt lifted, even expanded, infu

Dear Friend of Poetic Medicine, I hope that you are well enough. Thank you for being interested in us. I can’t know but I can imagine you may be troubled, even very troubled, by what is happening on national and international dimensions. We the People , are people who treasure justice and inclusivity. We do our best to practice compassion and kindness. We are intent on being sensitive to the real needs of people – especially sensitive to the needs of the most vulnerable among

Dear Friend of Poetic Medicine, …whose morning-time begins, like fresh linen smoothed flat by the weathered hands of this one life That’s Where You Can Hear Good Singing These lines I am drawing out from my poem January 1 say that in some way we, that you and I, even with our weathered hands, have fresh linen to start this year with. I have quoted this from Rainer Maria Rilke many times: You must give birth to your images. They are the future waiting to be born. I want our fu

Dear Friend of Poetic Medicine, Thriving & Comfort, in the Room Together I hope you are well and thriving. This time of year, a transitional passage into the new, could be considered a place where you envision the possible. I cheer that possible for you. If this letter finds you in a more difficult place, I am sending gentle encouragement and comfort. Comfort? Yes, comfort may be what most of us long for, especially in these days of harsh, hurtful actions and rhetoric in some

Dear Poetic Medicine Friends, The months roll on and on! This morning I am feeling that this is different than what relationships are about. When I begin this letter “Dear Poetic Medicine Friends” I slow down and someone’s face will appear. I slow down and drop inside to hear what my heart wants to say to you. The Choice to Slow Down In order to “drop inside” I slow down. I must slow down. Wherever that mysterious place is, the clock isn’t ticking. Good fortune my heart is be

Dear Friend of Poetic Medicine, To begin this letter I want to pause to remember Mari Alschuler -- an important person in my experience...

June 15, 2025 Dear Poetic Medicine Friend, I am astonished that I date this letter as being written on June 15. Ohmigod, half of this...