If a line or phrase resonates with you, we invite you to use it as a starting point to create your own poem. We welcome you to share your poem with the IPM community here. This poem was included in IPM's August 2026 Newsletter. Access the full Newsletter here.

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

If a line or phrase resonates with you, we invite you to use it as a starting point to create your own poem. We welcome you to share your poem with the IPM community here. This poem was included in IPM's July 2026 Newsletter. Access the full Newsletter here.

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

If a line or phrase resonates with you, we invite you to use it as a starting point to create your own poem. We welcome you to share your poem with the IPM community here. This poem was included in IPM's June 2026 Newsletter. Access the full Newsletter here.

If a line or phrase resonates with you, we invite you to use it as a starting point to create your own poem. We welcome you to share your poem with the IPM community here. This poem was included in IPM's May 2026 Newsletter. Access the full Newsletter here.

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

Iona Poetry Community Field Trip Writing Together as a Celebration of Mary Oliver The poet Mary Oliver once wrote, “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” And surely that is true for her many readers who have been inspired by her close observation of nature and her living relationship with the woods, ponds, marshes, birds and wildlife where she lived on Cape Cod. To celebrate her, the Iona Poetry Community sponsored its first Mary Oliver Day this year on February 14 by ta