'When narrative medicine meets listening' presentation

Brook Wyers from the NEOMED Writing Center and Dr. Kevin Dieter will deliver a presentation titled: "When Narrative Medicine Meets Listening: Listener Poems and the 55-Word Story" on Nov. 13 during the upcoming Poets for Science Conference.

This hybrid presentation and generative workshop invites participants to expand writing as both a personal and communal practice. Grounded in The Good Listening Project (TGLP) ideology, the session introduces listening as a creative and humanistic act, where Listener Poets transform lived experiences into personalized poems. Alongside this, participants will explore the 55-word story, a brief narrative form that distills meaningful moments through careful attention and reflection. By pairing these approaches, the session highlights how listening can be transformed into narrative. Participants will engage with examples and practice these methods, leaving with tools for deep listening, creative expression and empathetic writing. 

 

This first-ever Poets for Science Gathering celebrates nearly a decade of public work linking poetry with scientific inquiry and will offer participants an opportunity to forge new friendships and networks of connection in the shared work of experimentation, exploration, discovery, and expression.

 

The gathering welcomes writers, scientists, researchers, educators, students, clinicians, policy makers, community organizers and members of the public who are curious about the meeting ground between science and the imaginative life for three days of readings and panels, participatory events, formal and informal conversations, and a book fair.

 

Featured poets and scientists will include Poets for Science founder Jane Hirshfield, Arthur Sze, Tracy K. Smith, Camille Dungy, Kimberly Blaeser, Melissa Nelson, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Phillip Levin, Jane Lubchenco and Brandon Kilbourne.