The Waiting.

The following article uses storytelling, poetry, and findings from a humanbecoming inquiry on waiting to describe the arduous universal humanuniverse living experience of waiting.

Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.

Ovid's Metamorphoses tells the story of Icarus - his tragic flight with man-made wings, the melting of the wax that bound them, and the ensuing fall to his death. This moment has been immortalized across the arts and through several mediums, but none are more notable than Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. Described as a "painter for poets," Bruegel's work served as inspiration for several writers, with this piece in particular providing the basis for ekphrastic poems by W.H. Auden and William Carlos Williams. Though each of these works has a different focus, the unifying theme is that human tragedy is too often placed on the periphery of notice. They are effective reminders to physicians and other healthcare providers about the human aspect of suffering and pain in medicine.

I-Poems: A Window Into the Personal Experiences of Family Caregivers of People Living With Advanced Cancer.

BACKGROUND: To date, there is little understanding of how caring during advanced cancer can be a transformational experience for personal becoming for family caregivers (FCGs). FCGs experience personal becoming as they create their own meaning of health and illness and choose patterns relating to the self-identity of the past while reaching forward into the unknowns. Gaining greater insight into a potentially positive aspect of cancer caregiving can contribute to FCG well-being and quality of life. OBJECTIVES: This article identifies I-Poems within cancer caregiver narratives and explores them for themes of personal becoming. The narrative environment created space for FCGs to construct and share their voices; at the same time, the analytic method of poetic inquiry provided the voice of the FCGs to be seen, heard, and contextually explored. METHODS: As a secondary analysis, we used five cancer caregiver narrative texts obtained from the primary study to create individual I-Poems. Each of the I-statements within the cancer caregiver narrative texts was lifted and repositioned into a poem format while retaining the chronological order and voice of the participant. We then explored the I-Poems for converging themes of personal becoming as emerged from the primary narrative-thematic analysis. RESULTS: I-Poems were created from each of the five participant caregivers' narratives and then explored for themes of personal becoming. Each of the participant stories is briefly introduced, followed by their I-Poem. We found that the I-Poems converged with emergent themes and provided a first-person representation of their caring journey and transformation of being. DISCUSSION: I-Poems are a postmodern form of poetic inquiry that can be used alongside thematic analysis to explore personal meaning of caring for someone with advanced cancer and how FCGs experience personal transformation of self. Although we found I-Poems to be a meaningful and useful form of analysis for some narrative data, we propose an evolved genre of poetic inquiry-We-Poems-to be used in dyadic nursing research and with FCGs who are in partnered relationships.

"We are the future": Advant-aged women speak-out through spoken word poetry.

This study aims to investigate women between the ages of 50 and 70 who write and perform spoken word poetry, through which they wish to lead positive social change, by turning the culture of silence into open discourse. This period represents a new phase of life. These women are at an "in-between" phase of being no longer young but not yet old and are between life roles. This is a new age group that has not yet been studied. We argue that this stage of life requires a new term. The term chosen for this study is advant-age because it implies the advantages and opportunities that this period of life affords. Although this group of women is growing in relation to the general population, the ageism and sexism they experience are increasing, creating a gradual process of social exclusion and reduction in their agency. Spoken Word Poetry (SWP) is written on a page but performed live in front of an audience. It is a poetic piece that includes rhythm, rhyme, and sometimes humor, which help convey complex messages with finesse. The importance of the current research lies in revealing a new and unresearched social phenomenon that has been developing in Israel in recent years: Advant-aged women are discussing issues that society usually silences, using methods that traditionally have been associated with younger groups. Through SWP, advant-aged women are enabling the possibility of raising these issues for public discussion and creating an opportunity for social change.

Utilizing Poetry as Spiritual Care for Hospital Staff.

This personal reflection emphasizes the potential benefits of poetry for interfaith spiritual and pastoral support of medical professionals. Details are provided for the implementation of several successful practices, including an Intensive Care Unit Poetry Basket, Portable Poetry with Aromatherapy Towelette Hand Blessings, and Presenting Poems to Nurse Practice Council. The references include the poetry used in the spiritual care activities and the author also provided a helpful "Further Resources" section.

A Call to Journal: Grief Work and Poetry-A Reflection.

In this poetic work, journaling is shared as a means to navigate grief. The call is to spiritual leaders to encourage those grieving to be creative in their journey. This is a tool to support understanding the experience of grief as a healthcare provider.

The Manikin We Owe.

This poem is to provide narratives written by a student of Hospital Corpsman Basic program, describing experiences throughout the training and expressing hope in Navy Medicine. It was originally performed as a spoken-word poem at graduation in 2023 and was adopted for reading enjoyment.

An empirical study of schema-associated mnemonic method for classical Chinese poetry in primary and secondary education based on cognitive schema migration theory.

Classical Chinese poetry, as an indispensable part of China's national culture, provides valuable resources for improving literary literacy and fostering patriotism among primary and secondary school students. This study, based on cognitive schema migration theory, investigated the effect of a "schema-associated mnemonic method" on the memory efficiency and retention of classical Chinese poetry memorization among the students. Through a controlled experiment, the results revealed that the experimental group (n = 63) outperformed the control one in memorizing classical poetry with higher memory efficiency and retention, which indicates the sustainable application prospects of the method in primary and secondary education. The findings of this research can provide beneficial insights for the effective integration of classical Chinese poetry teaching and educational technologies.

Drawing as a strategy for children to learn ancient Chinese poetry.

Drawing is regarded as a promising strategy for children's learning, which has greatly been supported by research using science texts as learning materials. To shed light on the benefit of drawing on children's text-based learning in humanities, two classes of 86 grade 5 children were required to learn an ancient Chinese poem in an actual classroom setting, either by drawing a visual picture illustrating the poem or by reading repeatedly at their own pace as usual. Data analyses were conducted using (generalized) linear mixed-effects models. The results indicated that children who were allowed to generate a drawing during learning showed better learning performance of the entire poem than children who were allowed to read repeatedly regarding the delayed posttest rather than the immediate posttest. Besides, children in the drawing group reported a higher level of learning motivation than those in the reading group. We argue that the generative drawing effect can be tentatively extended to ancient Chinese poetry education.

Notes on growing love: Cherríe Moraga's "If," a world-making incantation conjuring collective consciousness through Chicana lesbian po(i)esis.

This essay introduces the embodied ceremonial practices of deep presence and sustained attentiveness as Chicana lesbian poetic devices that shape-shift Chicana lesbian subjectivities, socialities, and simultaneously the violence of colonial capitalist racial heteropatriarchies. My reading of the poem "If" in Carla Trujillo's rendering of Chicana lesbian desire in Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About, delves into the shape-shifting and time-bending potentiation at the heart of Chicana lesbian poetics. Cherríe Moraga's "If" generously offers a map that stalls time with the magnificence of sustained attentiveness. The poet's observations entice the reader with a depth of presence that illuminate the subject, casting life-sustaining reimagined meanings onto otherwise commodified individuated bodies. Moraga's "If" refracts the meaning of loss, ghostly pasts, and unimaginable futures through embodiment, imbuing a vivid and deep presence capable of casting spells on futures yet to come. The poem posits total immersion in being-ecstasis, that blooms with the transformational potential of the ecstatic. This essay reads the poem "If" in the context of Moraga's oeuvre as ceremonial world-making incantation conjuring collective consciousness through Chicana lesbian po(i)esis.