Katie, this poem is for you since you asked
for one. As usual, I have little
to say but as always am willing
to give it a go. The world around us
now seems to be in pain though that’s not new.
Maybe what’s new is the pain we feel
as we try to comprehend, assimilate,
take hold of the butchered, wretched around us.
As nurses, we can only let the blood flow,
attend, the suffering to continue
until it finds its own end. Here, we say,
there is some peace here, and in the moment
know what that is, like turning off a switch.
Joy is here too as we slip across grass,
green, wet, abundant energy as if
a dog running for a stick, a corgi
that wants to do his job whatever that
is. Here, we say, tossing the stick far out,
and he bounces fearless and with no shame.
A moving account of occupational hazard with an optimistic denouement.
Aaron Poller’s poem, a beautiful reflection on letting go and remembering.