I am offering this for today National poetry day especially to K.T. and
others on the net who have dared to share their sensibilties with us.
This piece may have been influenced my own recent experience of becoming
a patient. Certainly it has been affected by the thirty two years I have
spent feeling inadequate doing this frightening but wonderful job.
Our Examination
"If in doubt examine the patient"
Bravely baring your breast
You risk bad truth
And place your finger on the fear.
My warmed hands
Qualified to soothsay like the
Antennae of a minds eye,
Palpate down, down through
Each layer of your anatomy.
…Stooping, I crook my head
To search for tenderness in your wince.
While the tense dielectric of our anxiety
With its secret intimacy of doubt
Trickles like acid into our confidence.
…Till, suddenly, I am shocked
By the disembodied power of
My own voice murmuring a
Mutually calming reassurance
MFD'S 28.7.98
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