Critters

By Richard M. Berlin, MD | April 5, 2011

Dr Berlin is associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. E-mail: Richard.Berlin@gmail.com. He is the author of The Prophecy, published by Pudding House Press.

At the end of winter

squirrels and coons forage

at the wood line, the fox

bounces by with a blue jay in his grin,

and a possum on our plowed driveway

looks so pale my daughter believes

she’s seen a ghost. This morning

a bobcat sits in the meadow

like an Egyptian statue,

the way I do with patients,

just another critter

with my hairless white coat

dragging on the ground,

two short legs raising me

high enough to see a hungry world.

And I make my muted calls,

run down whatever paths are cleared,

the smell of death in my nostrils,

praise on my lips

for any healing the earth might offer.

by Joseph Stapen | April 18, 2011 7:25 PM EDT

Regarding his poem "Critters", I wonder if Dr. Berlin sits with his patients like a statue as the poem says he does? If not, why does he wish to convey that image of himself as a psychiatrist? I would also ask Dr. Berlin what he seeks to heal. The poem implies he wants to heal himself from the smell of death in his nostrils. Is that what he means? He praises the earth for its healing powers. What does he hope for or expect from the earth that would provide healing? He's running blindly down whatever paths are cleared and hopes the earth will heal him. I think he's barking up the wrong tree.

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Critters

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