Poets Examining Health
Please join us for Say Ah!’s Healing Verses: Poets Examining Health on Thursday, October 22, 2026, from 7-8:30pm ET online. Register here.
This special event in celebration of Health Literacy Month is moderated by Say Ah! Co-Founder and poet H.E. Fisher, and features acclaimed poets M. Cynthia Cheung, MD, Jennifer Franklin, David Groff, and Ellen June Wright.
The readings and discussion center poetry in relation to health literacy—and the poets’ attention to addressing the mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional experiences of patients and caregivers. Attendees will hear poems, listen to robust discussion, and have the opportunity to ask the panelist-poets questions.
Cost: This event is free thanks to the generous support of Say Ah!’s Board of Directors. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Say Ah! to help keep all our programs free for the people who need them most.
Panelists & Moderator
M. Cynthia Cheung is the author of Common Disaster (Acre Books). Her poems can be found or are forthcoming in AGNI, Bennington Review, Gulf Coast, The Massachusetts Review, Oxford Poetry, and Poetry London, among others, and she is the recipient of the Robert H. Winner Award from the Poetry Society of America. She practices internal medicine in Texas. www.mcynthiacheung.com
Jennifer Franklin is the author of four poetry collections including A Fire in Her Brain, chosen by Rowan Ricardo Phillips for the Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets (PUP, January 2027), named one of the most anticipated poetry books of the year by LitHub, Publishers Weekly, and Associated Press. Recent work has been published in The Bennington Review, “poem-a-day” on poets.org, and Prairie Schooner. She is the recipient of a NYFA/City Artist Corps grant, residencies from Hawthornden and T.S. Eliot foundations, and a Pushcart Prize. She teaches in Manhattanville’s MFA program and her own manuscript deep revision classes. https://www.jenniferfranklinpoet.com
David Groff is the author of Live in Suspense, published in 2023 by Trio House Press. His previous book Clay, also from Trio House, was chosen by Michael Waters for the Louise Bogan Award. His first collection, Theory of Devolution (University of Illinois Press), was selected by Mark Doty for the National Poetry Series. With Philip Clark, he edited Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS (Alyson); with Jim Elledge, he edited Who’s Yer Daddy?: Gay Writers Celebrate Their Mentors and Forerunners (University of Wisconsin Press), winner of a Lambda Literary Award. An independent book editor, he teaches poetry, nonfiction, and publishing in the MFA creative writing program at the City College of New York. https://www.davidgroff.com
Ellen June Wright’s first collection, Angela, is from Lily Poetry Review Books. Her chapbook, Laure, was a finalist in the Adrift 2025 chapbook contest. Her work has been published in POETRY Magazine, The American Poetry Review, Plume, The Missouri Review, Caribbean Writer, Obsidian, Callaloo and others. She’s a Cave Canem and Hurston/Wright alumna and has received Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. Wright also hosts a weekly workshop for Black poets. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ellen-june-wright
Moderator: H.E. Fisher, Say Ah! Co-founder
H.E. is a poet, writer, editor, and health literacy advocate who co-founded Say Ah! when she saw that the health care system itself had become a barrier to people’s health. H.E. is the author of the hybrid collection Sterile Field (Free Lines Press, 2022) and chapbook Jane Almost Always Smiles (Moonstone Arts Center Press, 2022), co-editor of The Big Brutal Act anthology (Small Harbor; forthcoming), and editor of (Re) An Ideas Journal. Published widely, H.E. has received nominations for Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize, and is a 2026 Saltonstall Foundation fellow, a 2025 Bethany Community Arts fellow, and recipient of Poets Afloat and Stonecrop Gardens residencies, and has received grants from Rockland Council for the Arts and ArtsWestchester. https://www.hefisher.com
Say Ah! is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that educates and empowers people to make positive choices about their health and health care. We do this by providing health literacy education and training for professionals, and workshops and materials for community members. Founded in 2007, we have helped more than 13,000 community members at over 60 host sites; and trained more than 3,000 professionals.