Several years ago, I read one of my poems, “I’m Still Your Doctor,” at the World AIDS Day memorial service, I was surprised that my voice broke as I spoke. I felt ambushed by my feelings. But that’s the nature of grief, especially for healthcare workers. We tend to stuff grief down instead of […]
The A to Z Challenge interrupted my series of chapbook poems just before I came to the last poem in my chapbook, the one from which the title is taken. Here is the last of the previously published poems in the collection.
S is for Surrender Read More »
(An excerpt from my memoir-in-progress) The Hospice Medical Director role gave me an excuse to bring poetry into my work as a physician. I selected a poem to begin every weekly meeting, sometimes one of my own. One day I read a poem by Mark Doty, “The Embrace,” and I looked up to see
I Make My Team Cry Read More »
Mend My Life In the middle of hours, I walk out, out of the clinic and into the rain. My nurse’s round face behind the front glass door worries as I turn right onto Jimmie Leeds, straight past the Seaview Resort,
Prayer Beads I long to leave the doctor’s life behind, but patients are still pulling at my sleeve. I head for healing of another kind. Four days a week I keep a writer’s mind and pray the words and stanzas flow with ease. I long to leave the doctor’s life behind.
Identity for Alex Tall enough to get her bag easily from overhead, She’s in business class, one of the first to stand. Her gray jacket and dress make her feel poised. The matching opaque pantyhose are size Q2.
Identity: For My Patient Read More »
Fertilizer: A Sonnet She plows the furrows, pushes past her wants. Can she imagine rows and columns, summed on spreadsheets as the basis for her work? Or, does she dig down to her ballet class, dance to Tchaikovsky all in lacy-white tulle stitched with plastic violets for the waltz? She isn’t graceful, but she moves
Fertilizer: A Sonnet Read More »
About This Poem: This poem first appeared in Juked in May 2021. The inspiration for this poem was two-fold. Part of it came from a freewrite about the white noise machines installed at my clinic. The other part came from a comment by the pediatrician in our clinic. Children in all four of his
Poem About White Noise Read More »
Death Rattle Back when five and dimes still made black and whites, I loved the cloudy bubbles made by pouring soda over brown-syruped vanilla ice cream. Today, the ShopRite-brand Dark
In Situ Even before I open my eyes, the light in them is orange, as red buds give way to masses of pollen and pale new leaves. The changing foliage makes a filter for sunlight through the glass: amber, pale green, then emerald. This tree and I have traveled a score of journeys together;
In Situ – Time and Nature Read More »
