Healthy Balance

Poetry Friday: Doctor

Every week we’re publishing the winning poems from April’s medical poetry contest. This week’s poem won Honorable Mention.

Doctor
By Katherine Crowley

She says his coat reminds her
of May: crabapple blossoms
in sun, so white they refract
bright hues and greens.
And she says his movements
beneath the white feel
like a warm prayer
in a place she thought should be
Godless cold.

We both call to fear
like a dog off his leash,
because we think we need it,
but his coat says surrender, and
we listen and obey.

And when I imagine leaving the pristine
for a cigarette — envision
the easy lightness of
smoky wisps skimming the cold air and the
bright tip slowly receding —
in the pack of cylinders all I see
is beige.

The coat saves my mother.
The coat saves me.

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