Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT August 11th 2023

9 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “For What Binds Us” by Jane Hirshfield, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write about what is contained in a scar.”

More details will be posted on this session, so check back again!

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (“Leave a Reply”), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

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Please join us for our next session Monday August 14th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

 "For What Binds Us" by Jane Hirshfield

There are names for what binds us:
strong forces, weak forces.
Look around, you can see them:
the skin that forms in a half-empty cup,
nails rusting into the places they join,
joints dovetailed on their own weight.
The way things stay so solidly
wherever they've been set down—
and gravity, scientists say, is weak.

And see how the flesh grows back
across a wound, with a great vehemence,
more strong
than the simple, untested surface before.
There's a name for it on horses,
when it comes back darker and raised: proud flesh,

as all flesh,
is proud of its wounds, wears them
as honors given out after battle,
small triumphs pinned to the chest—

And when two people have loved each other
see how it is like a
scar between their bodies,
stronger, darker, and proud;
how the black cord makes of them a single fabric
that nothing can tear or mend.

Jane Hirshfield, "For What Binds Us" from Of Gravity & Angels. Copyright © 1988 by Jane Hirshfield and reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.

Source: Of Gravity & Angels (Wesleyan University Press, 1988)

9 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT August 11th 2023”

  1. Michele348's avatar Michele348

    About what is contained in a scar~~~

    A white jagged line across my abdomen.
    Memories of pain, tears shed, doubt cast down upon me.
    Beyond the scar, looking back, it signaled a “call to arms” by the body to repair what had been torn apart.
    But not all repairs lie on the surface,
    some lie deep within us, within the spirit, within the heart, within the mind.

    The scar is, indeed, a “call to arms”, to remain steadfast and a renewal of the faces of determination and courage to overcome a foe,
    whatever or whomever they might be.
    A scar is a sign that life will and does continue,
    no matter what the odds.
    It is the nature of things,
    it is the will of the living to live until the last gasp.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Andre F. Lijoi, MD's avatar Andre F. Lijoi, MD

      Michele,
      Your speaker tells that with wounds come pain and tears and doubt, yet the response to a call to arms is a scar that toughens, whether on the surface or deep below. “A scar is a sign that life will and does continue…”
      Andre

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  2. rehavia6's avatar rehavia6

    What is Contained in a Scar

    Reminders of successful surgeries
    Evidence of battles I have been through and triumphed.
    Proof that I am imperfect
    A testimony to the experiences that have shaped me

    Like

    Reply
    • Andre F. Lijoi Laurie M. Lijoi's avatar Andre F. Lijoi Laurie M. Lijoi

      Your speaker’s voice tells me that we are formed by the experience of life even when we end up with a scar. I hear an acceptance of imperfections but also the embrace of successes.
      Andre

      Like

      Reply
  3. Andre F. Lijoi, MD's avatar Andre F. Lijoi, MD

    What is contained in a scar

    Scars are embedded with stories of
    surgeries
    illness
    wounds of trauma
    wounds of the heart
    failings
    getting roughed up on the way to successes
    growing some skin.

    While telling these stories, scars need not define us.
    A life busied with the work of healing scars
    allows the roughed up to use the experience of
    woundedness
    to help others to heal

    And it is those stories of bearing wounds
    and healing
    that bind us.
    And when those scars are massaged with compassion
    they start to mature and soften
    and become the glue that holds a storied relationship together
    softening hearts and
    prompting those hearts to want
    to know the other
    most deeply.

    Andre

    Like

    Reply
    • Michele348's avatar Michele348

      It is in the telling of the story that one can come to the realization that the event leading to the “scar” can serve as a point of victory…victory over physical hardship, victory over emotional hardship, and in the sharing of the story with another, as you said, a bond of trust is formed. This trust acts as a salve to further heal the “scar” almost to an unrecognizable form.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
    • rehavia6's avatar rehavia6

      Andre, your words speak straight to my heart. I really believe that our scars and wounds are what enable us to be great healers.
      Lisa

      Like

      Reply
      • Andre F. Lijoi, MD's avatar Andre F. Lijoi, MD

        Lisa, this poem really moved me. I have been greatly influenced by Henri Nouwen’s book, The Wounded Healer and also by the wounds my patients have suffered in their lives. These are wounds they bring into our offices disguised in many ways and it is important for us who care for them to pay attention. This is essence of Narrative Medicine put into practice and it has enriched my work and life immensely. Andre

        Like

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