Abstract

Much has been written about how poetry can be of use to medicine and medical education, privileging an instrumental perspective. But what might medicine contribute to poetry, beyond “subject matter”? Through enactive metaphors specific to medicine, medicine can bring body to words, and specific context to abstractions. But medicine and poetry are co-embroiled in life itself. This article first discusses the instrumentalism governing the use of poetry in medical education. Then it uses metaphor theory and the Kristevan concept of translationality to consider what medicine can do for poetry. Finally, the article considers the complex exchange between poetry and medicine in professional and educative contexts, illustrating these ideas through an examination of the uses of poetry in the first year of publication of the _Canadian Medical Association Journal_.