Now, more than ever, I find Elaine Scarry\u2019s perspective to be enlightening.\u00a0 For if she is correct in saying that pain is one of the few feelings too big to be molded into language, we can never truly express our pain to others through words.\u00a0 We can never fully<\/em><\/strong> describe pain or share it.\u00a0 Pain is therefore deeply isolating.<\/p>\n Three years ago, at the end of my Literature and Medicine course, I decided to delve into the relationship between language and pain by interviewing eleven individuals of different genders, ethnicities, and stages of life.\u00a0 I created a survey for them composed of a total of ten questions that included prompts such as: \u201cCan you describe a physically painful experience?\u201d and \u201cUse one or two words to describe pain.\u201d From these interviews, I produced a poem that attempted to convey the complexity of people\u2019s reactions to and views of pain and illness.<\/p>\n Now, as I read this poem, I think about all the times I\u2019ve asked patients to describe their pain, to rate it in severity from 1 to 10, to talk about its onset and relieving factors. How easy it was for me to write that information down and jump from one differential diagnosis to another without truly understanding their experience.\u00a0 And yet, even if I can\u2019t truly know their pain, at least I can play a role in providing hope for healing and for relief.\u00a0 At least, I can listen and acknowledge the experience of their hurt.\u00a0 That is, to me, one of the greatest honors of being part of the medical profession.<\/p>\n Below is the product of my investigation of the \u201cunsharability\u201d of physical pain and an attempt to better understand how difficult it is to give it a voice (Scarry, The Body in Pain<\/a>). \u00a0What is your experience with listening to others try to express their pain in words?\u00a0 Have you found any insight into making it easier for others to talk about their pain?\u00a0 Or do you find that your experiences differ from mine?\u00a0 Feel free to comment or email me at stephanie.wang@jhmi.edu<\/a>.\u00a0 I would love to hear more!<\/p>\n *Note: Italics indicate quotes taken directly from interviewees. The majority of the content of this poem is based upon the interviews. <\/em><\/p>\n Here and There<\/strong><\/p>\n We alternate between here It would be very painful Unable to be broken, What pulls us along is an anti-happiness, Pain, it\u2019s like,<\/em> A scar, a feeling I couldn\u2019t recognize,<\/em> You can\u2019t think, can\u2019t do anything.<\/em> Panic, you lend a hand The millionth tripping from one side Forget about it,<\/em> Halos of stars plaster the sky![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.themspress.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Pain1_image-300x199.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nand there. You see,
\nthere is a line, crooked and cracked,
\nan emaciated demarcation,
\na highlight in air, breathlessly coughing
\nand smelling of phlegm.<\/p>\n
\nto cross it, this line.<\/p>\n
\nwe wax in and out.
\nHow to describe such a thing?
\nMind-numbing and distracting,
\ndistasteful, unpleasant, depressing and miserable.
\nRegret, helplessness, extreme
\nsadness. Sick,<\/em>
\n like you\u2019re sick.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nit drags us past the line,
\nit is an anger and an envy, a struggle for
\nGod knows how long.<\/em>
\nIt nests in suicidal thoughts,
\nfamily problems, rolled-up eyes, severe
\nshock, pain.<\/p>\n
\n it\u2019s a\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n
\na breaking of the arm, a finger cut off,
\na scrape of the knee,
\na ball to the head, hurt jaw, appendicitis, unbearable
\ndistress, tears, a scream, almost
\ndying. Well,<\/em>
\n I don\u2019t like pain.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nconfusion. There is a leaving behind,
\na change of identity\u2014<\/p>\n
\nbecause you have to. You are supposed to do that.<\/em>
\nTo help.<\/em> The pity, the obligatory sad eyes.
\nI wanted to stay away, I was really<\/em>
\n annoyed<\/em> at the hack of her cough,
\nher eyes, feverish.
\nI actually wanted to avoid her,<\/em> avoid
\ncrossing the line.<\/p>\n
\nto another sounds like fish scales,
\nfeels like rain, the starting
\nand stopping, the forgetting and remembering
\nof hoarse throat, runny nose,
\nseasonal allergies,<\/em> itchy and flushed.<\/p>\n
\n concentrate on something else,<\/em> calm down,
\ntry to ignore it<\/em> for
\ntelling people won\u2019t change anything,<\/em>
\nscreaming and shouting won\u2019t do anything,
\nIt\u2019s like no one understands, I deal with it<\/em>
\n myself, I can kinda block it out.<\/em>
\nEveryone does things to alleviate it.
\nI\u2019ll pray,<\/em> but the only thing<\/em>
\n that really makes it go away is time.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nand the constellations only appear
\nwhen a story is made for them. Let us figure then
\na way to line everything up against this thin mark
\nbetween two vast caverns.\u00a0 The body flung
\nfrom here to there
\nis yours and mine. As it will always be
\nyour body, our pain.
\nOur pain, my body.<\/p>\n