This is a free-verse-ish poem I recently wrote about my former struggles working as a nurse. It’s rather contradictory of me to make this my first poetic post, since I was so insistent on truth and beauty in everything in setting up this blog. The following is perhaps truthful to my emotional experience, but I am still trying to find the beauty in the bad memories of my past work life. And poetry is good for that too, moving you towards self-revelation, etc. Anyways, enough preamble:
My Hands Are Cold
“My hands are cold,”
I warn you as I lift your sleeve,
But they are clean.
Stripped.
Pristine.
And dry and chapped,
And stiff with pain.
You shiver as I touch your skin,
But all they know is
Soon it’s time to wash again.
You look at me,
Awaiting answers anxiously,
Making me a demi-god
Of all goodwill,
Against my will.
And sitting still,
You ask for the miraculous.
Any answers I can give
Come from books
On bending shelves,
Books that you could read yourself.
The only additive,
The only “something else”
Is human at its core,
And yet you hope for more.
I wish that I was more.
My hands are cold,
But rarely shaking anymore.
I make them still,
Through force of will,
But fear has almost become rote,
And works its way day in, day out.
We’re symbiotic, arm in arm.
Trembling once external
Hides its evidence in the vessels,
Tissues, fabric of my form.
You say you wish my hands were warm.
I wish we both were free of harm.
hello, blog neighbour 😀 happy to see your writing!
lovely poem and i appreciate its straightforwardness and honesty.
keep posting! 😀 mind if i link?
Yes, please link it up. haha. And i owe you a big thanks because we were creeping on your wordpress site quite a bit when we were trying to set up this one! : )
See you this soon on the weekend!!!
I loved your poem Bethany, it gave me a real sense of the “nurse” on the other end of the needle. Very well done!!
Hi Duncan. I just realized that your site also has a poetry section, and it’s beautiful, I have to say. I was very impressed with the few I read so far. I would have liked to comment there as well, but didn’t see a way to do so. I am so happy to find another lover of poetry…I guess photography isn’t your only artistic outlet. 😉
Love it! Can’t wait to read more
Wow. You’ve certainly come a long way since high school.
I think you have an awesome balance here between “wordiness” and meaning. Easy to read, but still very elegant and captivating.
Also, I must disagree with your comment that this is contradictory to your idea of finding truth and beauty in everything. The truth is obvious, but I’d say the beauty is shown in contradictory ideas – the frailty of the human form (both yourself and the patient) vs. the underlying comfort of human companionship. By the end (although still bleak), the two of you become “we”. It’s like being trapped in a snowstorm with your worst enemy. Even though the two of you don’t necessarily like each other, there’s still a sense of companionship.