SPOTLIGHT -
April 22nd 2024
"I pulled my scuffle hoe hard through the clay’s crust and heard the blade scrape metal and earth."
April 19th 2024
"And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold, And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold."
April 12th 2024
"I shall forget civilization, I shall forget color, caste, I shall move in a fantastic world of raceless men and women..."
April 5th 2024
"rescued from the filth of paradise, hosed off, shining, my cracked fingernails caked with dirt."
March 29th 2024
"The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimeters and the diameter of its effective range about seven meters, with four dead and eleven wounded."
Passing through Albuquerque
"Moments like that, you can love this country..."
Summer Kitchen
"We ate, and talked, and went to bed, And slept. It was a miracle."
"Grappelli’s Smile"
Unity
On this September 11th—and always—we strive for unity...
At the Pitch
"If I could only live at the pitch that is near madness..."
Decisions
A psychiatrist reflects on decisions...
Grappelli’s Smile
"...Then twenty years swing by and I’m riffing chords on my father’s old D’Angelico, Grappelli’s photo clipped to the stand, an image captured the night he owned the ballroom stage, me on the dance floor..."
Summer, Like the Body
“Summer, like the body, bends slowly toward its end…”
Joy
"I'm thinking about how good it is to have been sick, to have been turned inside out..."
Advice from a Raindrop
"You think you’re too small to make a difference?"
Skilcraft Visible Man Anatomy Kit, 1960
"And when she allows our eyes to meet my joy from her gift pleases her more than I can understand on this birthday she loved to call my first day of medical school."
The Hummingbird: A Seduction
"...I would take you and take you and take you deep into any kind of nest you ever wanted."
"Skilcraft Visible Man Anatomy Kit, 1960"
"Lost in the anatomy of wonder, moments pass before I catch my mother’s smile while she pretends to dust her shelves..."
Some Words for the Graduates
One psychiatrist shares some words of wisdom for the class of 2022.
The Ordinary Weather of Summer
"In the ordinary weather of summer with storms rumbling from west to east like so many freight trains hauling their cargo of heat and rain..."
Making Room
A psychiatrist shares his reflections on inclusivity... and making room for all.
Love in a Time of COVID-19
"I love you as one loves the sickest patient: terminally, between the diagnosis and the death."
Invisible People
A physician living with mental illness shares their experience through poetry.
Three Digit Light
Reflections on the new suicide hotline...
"The Not Dead"
"...the fresh cut grass a living carpet where all of us lay down and dream death will come to everyone except me."
BIPOC MD/DO Investment
A psychiatrist reflects on the past, present, and future for BIPOC MDs and DOs.
The Not Dead
"We call them The Not Dead when they crumple in an easy chair after chemo..."
A Little Closer to the Edge
"O mother, O minutehand, teach me how to hold a man the way thirst holds water. Let every river envy our mouths. Let every kiss hit the body like a season."
Reflecting on Another Mass Shooting
A physician assistant writes a poem inspired by the recent mass shooting in Uvalde.
Sequelae
Poetic reflections on today's news...
Thank You
"...you are the air of the now and gone..."
Fatherly Attributes
A psychiatrist's reflections on Father's Day.
A Psychiatrist's Reflections: Jubilant Juneteenth
Reflections on Juneteenth...
"The Algebra of Kindness"
"And we laughed again because he made us feel safe and loved, even when we stumbled, his calculated goal to teach us how to solve for X when X equals kindness."
The Algebra of Kindness
There are only three kinds of people in the world, those who are good at math and those who aren’t.