The Making of a Poet

Send us Fan Mail In this episode hosts Ryan McCarthy and Renée K. Nicholson explore Renée’s creative journey, one that began as a professional ballet dancer and changed course into creative writing and humanities after a devastating illness.  “When I couldn’t dance anymore, I wanted to figure out what was next for me. While I was at Butler University, I went to hear the Irish poet Seamus Heaney and I didn’t so much hear poetry as experience it as a full-body moment. When he read his poetry, I felt it in my sternum the way that I heard the strains of Swan Lake in my sternum as a dancer.”  “I remember when I heard the Appalachia poet, Nikki Giovanni, who really spoke to me, and she also reminded me of people in West Virginia.”  “Gen X, we are both digital and analog. I always carry a notebook with me, and sometimes, it is just a few words that capture something for me to come back to later.”  Healthcare is Human is created by Ryan McCarthy and is a signature program of the Berkeley Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency in Martinsburg, WV, https://medicine.wvu.edu/internal-medicine-eastern-division/residency/ This podcast is engineered by Kym Mattioli. Visit Healthcare is Human on Facebook and Instagram to see incredible photography by Molly Humphreys, native of Shepherdstown, WV. Find more of her world-class portfolio on Piccadilly Posh Photography https://www.instagram.com/piccadillyposh?igsh=Nm02YXlmdG1vZTJx Learn more about Renée K. Nicholson, her poetry, prose, and other projects by visiting http://www.reneenicholson.com/ Healthcare is Human is supported by the West Virginia Humanities Council, WVU Medicine, WVU Foundation, Freedom’s Run Foundation, and generous donors in our community. Isaac McCarthy (PhD candidate, Ohio State University) plays the banjo to open and close the show. https://music.osu.edu/people/mccarthy.851 Healthcare is Human is featured on TED.com; KevinMD; Synapsis; Doctors on Social Media; The Gold Foundation; Narrative Mindworks; West Virginia Public Broadcasting; 100 Days in Appalachia; American Public Health Association; and Academy for Professionalism in Health Care, amongst others.  #healthcareishuman Be sure to visit Healthcare is Human on Facebook and Instagram. If you have a great idea for a podcast, we would love to hear from you.