by Bob Hill, The Courier-Journal; Louisville, KY. Saturday, March 1, 2008.
It was a cancer patient's screams, followed by the soothing music of poetry, that led Clint Morehead to his plan.
About 15 months ago, he was a third-year medical student at University Hospital when a woman with breast cancer was brought in on a stretcher, her pain medicine ineffective, her screams, her cries for help, echoing down the halls.
Morehead, 26, was asked to talk to the woman, determine what pain medicine she had been using. To his surprise she recognized him; they had spoken briefly three weeks earlier; they had talked about a remote-control morphine pump she had been using to ease her agony.
They spoke a second time -- and then Morehead had to leave her to talk to doctors.
"I felt kind of ashamed afterward for not doing anything faster," he said, "but I really didn't know what to do."
That night his mother, Maureen Morehead, a Louisville teacher and poet, invited him to join her at a reading by W. S. Merwin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose writings on the Vietnam War, mythological themes and the natural world have spanned 40 years.
"It was really comforting to listen," said Morehead. "He had a deep, soothing voice … he had a tone that's unique to poetry."
Morehead understood the power of the perfect word. He was a writer at Manual High School and at Bellarmine University. He is keeping a journal of his years in medical school that he will transform into a book of essays: "I am very interested in the interplay between spirituality and medicine."
As Merwin read his poetry, Morehead thought about the effect it had on him. He bought one of Merwin's books hoping to read it to the cancer patient. He thought about what she -- and others -- were going through. Each patient had a story to tell; an uncertain amount of time to tell it; he wanted to listen.
"You're really dealing with a patient as a patient, a soul, and that inspires me," he said.
"You're dealing with them as a complete person, a person who, having been faced with their diagnosis, is extremely vulnerable … and as they tell their story it's making them better. …"
Morehead took Merwin's book of poetry to the patient hoping to read her the funny lines; the poem about a dog. He never got the chance; her room was filled with family and friends saying their goodbyes.
But his plan grew from there -- the Kentucky Books for Patients Project. He would collect the best new or gently used books of poetry, essays, short stories and literature by the best Kentucky writers.
He picked them because they spoke to home, time and place. Writers like Harriet Arnow, Bobbie Ann Mason, Jesse Stuart, Jim Wayne Miller, Thomas Merton, James Still, Robert Penn Warren, Wendell Berry and Sena Jeter Naslund -- among so many others.
He's also collecting works of more broad-based contemporary writers such as those with Spalding University's Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program.
Morehead would distribute the books to hospitals and cancer clinics across Kentucky. Patients in early treatment could read them or, better yet, have a loved one read to them -- a more tactile, intimate experience than books on tape.
If you have Kentucky classics taking up space, please contact Morehead at kybooksforpatients.blogspot.com. Or bring them to Louisville's Jazz Factory on Thursday, March 13, where a dozen Kentucky books-for-patients authors will be reading, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
We all know people dealing with cancer. We're just not always sure how to help.
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