A Doctor, a Poem, and a License to Reflect

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Neil Skolnik, MD: I'm Dr. Neil Skolnik. As clinicians, we have a unique vantage point on the human experience, but we don't always have time to reflect on our experience. Involvement in the arts gives us the opportunity to create meaning, find meaning, and sometimes forge meaning out of what we do. When I talk about the arts, I like to think about it broadly: poetry, stories, song, dance, paintings, drawings — anything that we as people, as friends, as colleagues can come together and enjoy experiencing with each other and use as a means of finding meaning in what we do and in life.

Tonight we are privileged to have Dr Seema Yasmin join us. Dr Yasmin is the director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative and a clinical assistant professor in the Stanford Department of Medicine. She's also the author of four books, including a really wonderful recent book of poems, If God Is a Virus. Seema, welcome.

Seema Yasmin, MD Thanks for having me, Neil.

Skolnik: Seema, can I ask you to read the poem that we had talked about for our audience?

Yasmin Of course. This is a poem called "Anamnesis."