SAMPLE PRESCRIPTION -- DIAGNOSIS: IN NEED OF INSPIRATION AND FEARLESSNESS IN PURSUING ONE'S PASSIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR

NAME: Exxxx and Exxx
AILMENT: in need of inspiration and fierceness in pursuing one's dreams for the new year
SYMPTOMS: extreme thoughtfulness; unconditional support for community; strong desire to live passionately and fiercely
ALLERGIES: unknown
SHIPPING ADDRESS: Lx Cxxxxxx, CA

Rx: It Is Born, by Pablo Neruda, "Here, I came to the boundaries/ where nothing needs to be said,/everything is learned with weather and ocean..."

Directions: Take this poem to the sea and whisper it into fists full of sand; Return to this poem and read it 1x out loud on the 1st of each month in 2010; Listen for crashing waves.



BEFORE READING THIS POEM: Imagine the heat of your life's dreams and desires; clear space in your life for the unexpected and listen inward POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS: fierceness; boldness; the sounds of the sea rushing in on your busy lives; desire to make all best visions real CAUTIONS: may cause careful consideration of the clock; may cause mild disdain for petty conversation; extreme courage may result OVERDOSE: not possible IN CASE OF EMERGENCY: seek the sea within; run toward yourself with love and good measure of relaxation and care. Love is limitless. 

ON POETRY & SURVIVAL II

Survival begins when we translate crisis into language...In the act of making [or reading] a poem, two crucial things take place that are different from ordinary life. First, we have shifted the crisis to a bearable distance from us; removed it to the symbolic but vivid world of language. Second, we have actually MADE and shaped this model of our situation rather than passively endured it as lived experience. 


Gregory Orr, Poetry as Survival, page4-5

ON POETRY & SURVIVAL

I don't believe that poetry can save the world. I do believe that the forces in us wish to share something of our experience by turning it into something and giving it to somebody: that is poetry. That is some kind of saving thing, and as far as my life is concerned, poetry has saved me again and again.

Muriel Rukeyser

SAMPLE PRESCRIPTION -- DIAGNOSIS: IN NEED OF MAJOR UPLIFTING AND WISH FOR GENERAL HAPPINESS ABOUT THE WORLD IN TIME OF UNUSUAL DISTRESS

NAME: Bxxx & Dxxx Bxxxxxxx
AILMENT: in need of major uplifting and a wish for general happiness about the world
SYMPTOMS: strong need to feel connected to positive attitudes and know that they are loved
ALLERGIES: unknown
SHIPPING ADDRESS:  Pxxxxx, IL

Rx: The Long and Short of It, by W.S. Merwin, "As long as we can believe anything/we believe in measure/we do it with the first breath we take/and the first sound we make..."

Directions: Face one another; Read poem 1x  each out loud 1x nightly for 1 week; At noon on 7th day, find each other and read 1x together; Repeat as necessary until love comes through as daily rhythm .



BEFORE READING THIS POEM: rest well the mind, the heart; channel daily rhythms: heart-beats, footsteps, day light, darkness, love. POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS: increased awareness of daily inner rhythms; strong pull toward oceans, lakes, and fields; heightened sense of love, warmth, and support from those who love you. CAUTIONS: abstain from all business-related concerns while reading poem; poem may cause renewed desire to live in the present moment. OVERDOSE: unlikely IN CASE OF EMERGENCY: contact each other immediately for comfort and joy; have faith in windows, birds, and beauty in the everyday patterns. YOU ARE LOVED. 

SAMPLE PRESCRIPTION -- DIGNOSIS: DESIRE FOR TRAVEL & NEW POSSIBILITIES YET FEELING STUCK IN ONE PLACE

SAMPLE PRESCRIPTION:

NAME: Cxxxxxx Wxxxx
AILMENT: strong desire for travel and new possibilities yet feeling stuck in one place
SYMPTOMS: alternating between fear and excitement, possibility and entrapment, wild optimism and dreary realism
ALLERGIES: none
SHIPPING ADDRESS:  Chicago, IL

Rx: Mares/Oceans by Juan Ramon Jimenez, "I have a feeling that my boat/has struck, down there in the depths,/against a great thing..."

Directions: Walk to Lake Michigan. Facing the water, read poem out loud 1x in Spanish.  Turn around. Read poem out loud 1x in English. Listen for waves behind you. Return home. Read poem in quiet space 1x nightly for 1 week.

BEFORE READING THIS POEM: Imagine yourself in Mexico, Spain, or Italy; let your eyes meet the horizon line; climb the inner staircase; remember that your heart is a map.  CAUTIONS: do not read poem under florescent lights; do not be startled by silence. POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS: poem may cause delirious mind travel; may cause extreme desire to roam inner truths; possible vivid dreaming may occur; may experience unapologetic self-determination and immense love for unknown futures.
OVERDOSE: not likely; feel free to distribute to those suffering similar symptoms. IN CASE OF EMERGENCY: place yourself in Berger's field and frame a bird mid-flight; become that bird; call on faith in unexpected pleasures and spoken intentions.