I write poetry to process the experiences – both painful and joyful – in my patients’ lives and my own. I never explicitly set out to do it. There’s no conscious intention, no I’m going to write about poem about this to help me feel better. But almost inevitably, the words find their way to the page.
Sometimes it takes months or a year to mold, reshape, finesse. Other times the lines leap from my mind near-fully formed.
The three poems below were crafted over the past year. Some emerged quickly, others required multiple iterations before they landed in form that felt complete and brought a feeling of beginning to heal. Screenshots are below and links to the original publications are embedded in the journal titles.
The Growth Curve 