Hospitals, TGLP
Ravenna Raven
Association of American Medical Colleges
Hospitals, TGLP
Ravenna Raven
Georgetown University Medical Center
Hospitals, TGLP
Ravenna Raven
Inova Schar Cancer Institute
Conferences, TGLP
Ravenna Raven
The Gold Humanism Summit

Ravenna Raven

Our Why: Stories from the American Cancer Society’s Patient Support Team

Each poem and origin story in this collection was created for team members of the American Cancer Society’s Patient Support Pillar as part of the “My Why” professional development program – a space to reflect on purpose, resilience, and connection to the ACS mission.

About this Anthology

Through one-on-one sessions over Zoom, Listener Poets from The Good Listening Project asked each participant a simple, powerful question: “What would you like your poem to be about?”

Then, they listened.

These conversations opened windows into personal stories, motivations, and the unique “why” that inspires each person’s work. This anthology brings together those poems and stories as a testament to the purpose-driven spirit of the ACS community.

Inside these pages are expressions of courage, connection, love, and humanity. We invite every person who opens this book to join Patient Support team members in their reflection – because we all have a story worth sharing.

 
Poems in this Collection
The Beacon poem - Listener Poet Geva Thole - The Good Listening Project - 2025.02.19.png
The Beacon

“I’ve experienced a lot of big losses,” she said, referencing the passing of a grandfather and two uncles who did not survive their cancer diagnoses. “There were others too.”

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Copy of Everyday Poem - Listener Poet Elizabeth Pringle - The Good Listening Project - 2024.10.17.png
Everyday

“I was at a crossroads about what to do with the rest of my life.”

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Association of American Medical Colleges

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The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) leads and serves the academic medicine community to improve the health of people everywhere. In partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, Listener Poets from The Good Listening Project spoke with 252 of their constituents from all areas of medical education. This book contains the resulting poems and stories, written by our Listener Poets.

Topics on the minds of participants ranged widely in a time marked by a global pandemic, widespread demonstrations around racial equity, and the persistent dedication of healthcare workers. Listener Poets began each conversation by asking, “What should the poem be about?” Then, they listened.

 

Order here:

Volume 1

August - November 2020

Volume 2

December 2020 -

March 2021

Volume 3

March - May 2021

Poems in this Collection
To My Daughters, Who Will Need to Know poem-Listener Poet Yvette Perry-The Good Listening Project-03-2021.jpeg
To My Daughters, Who Will Need to Know

This physician had recently started a new job when the pandemic hit.

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Decision Fatigue poem-Elle Klassen-The Good Listening Project-2021-03.JPG
Decision Fatigue

“I feel like I have decision fatigue,” she told me. It was normal for her to make many choices at work, but COVID had dramatically increased the number of medical decisions she had to make at home.

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Yosef the Builder - Listener Poet Yvette Perry - The Good Listening Project.jpeg
Yosef the Builder

This physician discussed being the only one in his practice network with expertise in patients with a specific type of chronic pain.

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So Much More to Medicine poem-Listener Poet Ravenna Raven-The Good Listening Project-2021-05.jpeg
So Much More to Medicine

“Our constituents are uniquely affected by the pandemic,” they said. This poemee was an educational psychologist who spoke about how much they missed working in person with med students, healthcare staff, and medical educators.

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Re-set poem-Listener Poet Yvette Perry-The Good Listening Project-2021-04.png
Re-set

"I grew from the experience – though I think it aged me 10 years!" This is how a resident described a turning point with a specific patient when he recognized how burned out he was.

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A Kind Reminder poem - Jenny Hegland - The Good Listening Project 1.jpg
A Kind Reminder

“There’s a constant feeling inside that I should be doing more,” she said. “But I also want to be kind to myself and recognize all that I’ve given.”

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The Good Listening Project - Elizabeth Pringle - Caregiver, Care For Yourself poem.jpeg
Caregiver, Care For Yourself

He brought the tools of mindfulness and self-care to medical students, many of whom had been studying all this past year, 10 hours a day, day after day, in isolation.

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The Good Listening Project - Yvette Perry - Forbearance poem.jpeg
Forbearance

He had recently lost his father to COVID-19 and was reflecting on forgiveness. For the majority of his life with his father, they did not have a positive relationship. However, in the last three years of life, his father lost his memory and his personality changed into someone who was loving and kind.

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The Good Listening Project - Listener Poet Jenny Hegland - home poem.jpg
home

“When you get to hear the hidden sides of people’s stories, you never look at people the same,” she said, with a noticeable tenderness in her voice. This woman was a therapist who supported physicians and residents. “Sometimes as I lay in bed at night I inhabit the stories people share with me.”

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The Good Listening Project - Jenny Hegland - The Calling poem.JPG
The Calling

“When everything else stops, we keep going,” she began. This woman had always wanted to be a physician, and as a medical school student, was about to become the seventh generation of physicians on her mother’s side of the family.

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The Good Listening Project - Frankie Abralind - PPE poem.jpg
PPE

She was tired after working twelve straight days on her current rotation. It was her third year of medical school, and she was already feeling burnt out. “I have five more years like this,” she said. “My sister tells me, ‘Keep pushing, you can get through it,’ but I don’t know if I can.”

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Georgetown University Medical Center

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Georgetown University Medical Center, 2020.jpg

Two Listener Poets brought their typewriters to Georgetown University Medical Center for one week, right before the COVID-19 pandemic began to shut things down in earnest, with a goal of helping fight burnout. Their signs offered Free Custom Poetry. Curious people stopped to take them up on it. Each time, the Listener Poet asked, “What should the poem be about?” Then, they listened.

Inspired by those conversations, the poems in this book tell the stories of some of the humans who spend time there.

Listener Poets Ravenna Raven and Jenny Hegland

Washington, D.C.

Poems in this Collection
The Good Listening Project - Ravenna Raven - I Already Miss This poem.jpeg
I Already Miss This

"I struggled to make friends until my junior year of high school," she said. "Then I finally opened up and became friends with so many people." She was now a freshman at Georgetown University and was learning how to bond with her new peers.

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The Good Listening Project - Jenny Hegland - True Friendship poem.jpeg
True Friendship

She immediately knew that she didn’t want her poem to be about cancer. She wanted it to be about friendship and asked if she could share a recent story.

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The Good Listening Project - Jenny Hegland - Cat Comfort poem.JPG
Cat Comfort

“I miss my four cats back home,” she said. “Want to see pictures of them?!” She was a graduate student in biotechnology. She explained that the program consumed her life. She saw other students studying abroad, posting pictures of travel and fun, but there was no room for that in her life.

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Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital, Volume 2

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Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital 2020 Collection Cover.jpg

Our Listener Poets spent six weeks visiting several units of Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital. When a curious person saw their signs and stopped to take them up on the Free Custom Poetry they offered, each Listener Poet asked, “What should the poem be about?” Then, they listened.

Inspired by those conversations, the poems in this book tell the stories of some of the humans who work there.

Listener Poets Jenny Hegland, Ravenna Raven, and Frankie Abralind

Washington, D.C.

Poems in this Collection
The Good Listening Project - Ravenna Raven - The Art of Caring poem.jpeg
The Art of Caring

She began her career as a hospice volunteer and then worked as a critical care provider in the Emergency Department for many years. She told me she always wanted her patients to feel empowered while in her care. “This feeling has to do with quality of life,” she said.

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The Good Listening Project - Ravenna Raven - Why I Take My Time poem.JPG
Why I Take My Time

We talked when she had a quick break during her shift at the Infusion Center. She told me how important it was for her to make the most of the moments she had to make connections with people.

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The Good Listening Project - Ravenna Raven - Traveling Nurse poem.jpeg
Traveling Nurse

She told me that she had lived in Florida for 50 years but now that she had an empty nest, she’d become a traveling nurse so she could live in different places. “I was only supposed to be in D.C. for three months,” she said, “but now I’ve been here for nine because I just love it so much.”

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The Gold Humanism Summit

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Gold Humanism Summit 2019 Collection Cover.jpg

Listener Poets sat in the lobby by the registration table for four days during the Gold Humanism Summit at Planetree’s International Conference in Orlando, FL with a Free Custom Poetry sign and their typewriters. When a curious person stopped to take one of them up the offer, the Listener Poet asked, “What should the poem be about?” Then, they listened.

Inspired by those conversations, the poems in this book tell the stories of some of the humans attending that event.

Listener Poets Ravenna Raven, Kay McKean, and Frankie Abralind

Orlando, Florida

Poems in this Collection
The Good Listening Project - Ravenna Raven - Empathy poem.JPG
Empathy

She talked about how hopeful med students feel when they first start out, and told me she worried that it would get harder for doctors to hold onto hope and empathy the further along they were in their careers.

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The Good Listening Project - Kay McKean - Shield to Kindness poem.jpeg
Shield to Kindness

“I have a lot of unresolved grief,” she confessed. It was her grief that made her good at empathizing with the hospice community she served. “Would resolving my grief make me less effective with my patients?”

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The Good Listening Project - Frankie Abralind - agony & fulfillment poem.JPG
Agony and Fulfillment

“Relationships — children, grandparents, siblings, spouses, parents are all a reflection of your journey,” she said. “They can be fulfilling or agonizing."

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The Good Listening Project - Kay McKean - Time poem.JPG
Time

“It feels like time is running out to make big changes,” she shared. The last 6 months were full of transition in all aspects of her life.

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The Good Listening Project - Kay McKean - Lightening Bugs poem.JPG
Lightening Bugs

The five of them work together in a Pediatric ER unit. “People die here,” one exclaimed, and part of their job is to bring light to a dark place.

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Mayo Clinic Transform Conference

Mayo Clinic Transform Conference Collection, 2019.jpg

Two Listener Poets sat in the lobby by the registration table at the Mayo Clinic’s Transform conference in Rochester, MN, with a Free Custom Poetry sign and their typewriters. When a curious person stopped to take one of them up the offer, the Listener Poet asked, “What should the poem be about?” Then, they listened.

Inspired by those conversations, the poems in this book tell the stories of some of the humans attending that event.

Listener Poets Ravenna Raven and Frankie Abralind

Rochester, Minnesota

Poems in this Collection
RR 33 - Caregiver's Notes.jpeg
Caregiver's Notes

She was very proud of her daughter and has hopes for “a bright future that’s as pain free as possible”

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The Good Listening Project - Ravenna Raven - In the Cath Lab poem.png
In the Cath Lab

“I’ve always loved hearts,” she said. She was a cardiac nurse who had been drawn to a job in the catheterization laboratory. “It’s so rare to have an opportunity to immediately do something good for somebody, but it happens often in the cath lab,” she told me.

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