
- Vol 32 No 7
- Volume 32
- Issue 7
A Lobsterman Looks at the Sea
His new hip healed in, we’re working on a bluff, talking doctors and health care reform as we shove a new propane tank into place...
His new hip healed in, we’re working
on a bluff, talking doctors and health care
reform as we shove a new propane tank into place.
A shape on the surface catches his eye:
“Right whale” he says, but I can only see
endless swells rolling in from the east.
He points out the gradations of gray
and green that mark deep ledge, the tide’s
shape along the islands and rocks,
the whale’s glistening back suddenly in focus.
And I react with the same surprise
my patients feel when I observe
what they can’t see-
a sudden shift in gaze, or a crease in a cheek,
and I understand how a doctor becomes
like a man who has spent sixty years
on a lobster boat, watching the world
swim fast and shining, right before his eyes.
This poem received a “Commended” award for The Hippocrates Prize for poetry, an international award for poetry on a medical subject, 2012.
Articles in this issue
about 10 years ago
Cultural Issues in Treating Geriatric Patients With Mental Illnessabout 10 years ago
Pediatric ADHD and the Cultural Psychotherapeutic Modelabout 10 years ago
Cultural Competence and LGBT Issues in Psychiatryabout 10 years ago
Contemporary ECT for Depression Part 1: Practice Updateabout 10 years ago
Intervention Helps Workers With Depressionabout 10 years ago
Immigration and Post-Adolescent Psychology of Young Terroristsabout 10 years ago
The 2015 International Congress on Schizophrenia Researchabout 10 years ago
Research That Can Change Clinical Practice in Psychotic Disordersabout 10 years ago
Perspectives on College Student SuicideNewsletter
Receive trusted psychiatric news, expert analysis, and clinical insights — subscribe today to support your practice and your patients.