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Winter 2007

RATTLE
Tribute to Nurses

Releasing December 2007, issue #28 will honor one of the world's most important professions, in featuring poems and essays written by 24 nurses. Many of them write about their careers, but the scope of their subject matter is impressive, and all of it informed by the intimate work that they do daily. Nurses are present at our most vulnerable moments, and so are given special insights into what it means to be human. This 'unusual access' makes for a collection of poems not to be missed.

Also in the issue, Alan Fox interviews Tess Gallagher and Arthur Sze, and we share the 11 winning poems from the 2007 Rattle Poetry Prize.

Issue #28 is our richest issue yet, filling 208 pages, and featuring over 100 poems for the first time, but the cover price is still $10.00. Click the link to the left to order. For a preview, download the Fall 2007 e-Issue.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Chris Anderson • Devika Brandt
Debra Marquart • Glenn Morazzini
Gretchen Steele Pratt • Brian Satrom
Alison Townsend • Jay Udall
Nathaniel Whittemore • Maya Jewell Zeller

CONVERSATIONS
Tess Gallagher
Arthur Sze

Special Essay (Online Only)

Sandy Summers & Harry Jacobs Summers

NURSING OUR BEER BACK TO HEALTH

Should we bury the word "nurse?"
 
In July 2007, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held a highly publicized "funeral" for the "n-word." The NAACP argued that the ceremony furthered its ongoing mission. But is language really that important in the resolution of social problems? And even if it is, can a society simply decide to change course about linguistic practices that are so deeply embedded in its culture?
 
Those who care about health should think about it. Discussion of the deadly nursing shortage rarely addresses the role language plays. But the terms we use have a real effect on how people think and act. This is true in every field in which public speech matters, including advertising, politics, journalism, and the arts, including poetry. But nursing is in the midst of an unprecedented global crisis, in significant part because it is undervalued. That undervaluation is bound up in the language that expresses it.

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