Selections from ‘Tools of the Trade: Poems for New Doctors’
A few of the poems in the "Tools of the Trade"
"Poem for a Hospital Wall"
By Diana Hendry
Love has been loitering
down this corridor
has been seen
chatting up out-patients
spinning the wheels of wheelchairs
fluttering the pulse of the night nurse
appearing, disguised, as a bunch of grapes and a smile
hiding in dreams
handing out winds in orthopaedics
adding a wee drappie
aphrodisiaccy
to every prescription.
No heart is ever by-passed by Love.
Love has been loitering down this corridor
is highly infectious
mind how you go. If you smile
you might catch it.
*****
"A Brief Format To Be Used When Consulting With Patients"
By Glenn Colquhoun
The patient will talk.
The doctor will talk.
The doctor will listen while
the patient is talking.
The patient will listen while
the doctor is talking.
The patient will think that the doctor
knows what the doctor is talking about.
The doctor will think that the patient
knows what the patient is talking about.
The patient will think that the doctor
knows what the patient is talking about.
The doctor will think that the patient
knows what the doctor is talking about.
The doctor will be sure.
The patient will be sure.
The patient will be sure.
The doctor will be sure.
Shouldn't hurt a bit, should it?
*****
"The Guest House"
By Jelaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.