Thursday, October 16, 2008

Penance

Accepted today to the Annals of Internal Medicine Ad Libitum Section:

Penance

I’ve started
To bleed
Again

It happens
Every winter
With cold
And dry

I wash my hands
20-30 x a day
Before and after
Each
Patient

At first
The dryness
Was bothersome
And I used
Lotion
But eventually
I stopped

And my hands
Became painful
But the pain
Gradually
Dissapeared

Occasionally
Blood
On my knuckle
Where the skin
Would crack

The other day
I was calling
Results

A normal stress test
A high cholesterol
And lastly
I came
To your
Biopsy

Quietly
I told you
Over the phone
You cried

Calmly
I explained
What happens
Next

As I hung up
I noticed
I was wringing
My hands
Together

I looked down
With alarm
To see
I was covered
In blood

The cuffs
Of my white coat
Stained
Red

I ran
To the sink
My tears
Joining the water
Down
The drain

I guess
I have been hurting
For a very
Long
Time

However
Sometimes
I forget
To think
About
It


From the chapbook Primary Care, The Lives You Touch Publications

2 comments:

tracy said...

Amazing. Do you do any work in Psychiatry? You should, as you show such an understanding of emotional pain. You write beautifully. Thank you.
Sincerely, tracy

Jordan Grumet said...

Tracy...thanks for your comments. no, no psychiatry work above and beyond what a primary care physician does