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Poetica Pleasures: Verse for the Medically Inclined
By: Kate Williams
Students of
natural medicine are well aware of the delicate balance between the art and
science of practicing medicine. They may not, however, have considered how the
art could play the science in quite the way Sylvia Seroussi Chatroux, M.D. has orchestrated the subjects of
homeopathy, malady, and herbs. She has lifted the spirit of art and science to
the realm of song. And sing, her books do, in rhyming verse upon the pages of
three distinct clothbound books that each rest securely in one palm like a favorite stone.
The first of these
three books, Materia Poetica: Homeopathy in Verse, published in 1998, is a playful
collection of poems highlighting keynotes of 101 common and unusual homeopathic
remedies. As verse has been used for hundreds of years, particularly before it
came into print, these poems are entertaining tools for memorization. Students,
seasoned homeopaths, and interested patients alike will enjoy the catchy lines
that stick in ones minds even after the first read through: “Inflamed and angry
you can be / I hope you will not spit on me / Or stammer out your very name /
Bell, Bell..a..Donna that’s
your claim” or “Ignatia I have felt your lump /
Lodged deep inside my throat / I’ve sighed and grieved and swallowed / and
tried not to emote.”
Chatroux’s next two volumes follow suit but with
different emphasis. Medica Poetica, published in 2002, including
eighty-three maladies from acne to whiplash, humorously humanizes symptoms with
sensitivity to the suffering and acknowledgement of causes. Of flatulence she
writes: “Or maybe it’s a reflection / Of the colon’s
general health / Bacteria, yeast or parasites / Perhaps we have in wealth?”
The latest in Chatroux’s series, Botanica Poetica, 2004, is a journey among over a hundred medicinal herbs. The poems weave botany
and ethnobotanical tidbits in with the herbs’
medicinal properties, resulting in operatic tinctures for the heart and
mind. She writes: “Goldenseal, the
heroic herb / Stops infection, works superb / . . . / The Cherokees took for
indigestion / The Settlers for good nutrition / The Iroquois for liver relief.”
In an “Author’s
Note” Chartroux sums her poetic work with poignantly
light words of healing for our time: “If it were up to me, war would be fought
in rhyme and the funniest poem would win.” These three small books are a great
gift to the medical profession.
Dr. Chatroux has a private
practice in Ashland, Oregon. Although early on she relinquished her dream of becoming
a writer and sculptor, her pension for verse spilled over into her medical
school days where she continued writing poems to get through the rigors of the
program. While formally trained as an allopathic physician at Stony Brook
School of Medicine, Chatroux later studied homeopathy
at the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy, and botanical
medicine with Ashland herbalist, Mary Beth Roberts.
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