ABSTRACT
In a series of 19 poems, suffering, medicine, and healing are re-visioned in intense ways, demonstrating the power of metaphor to achieve an indwelling of topic. Grounded in both ancient Yoruba mythology and contemporary medical practice, these poems restore a humanity to care. For example, homespun surgery (‘starting where all surgery began: carpentry’) segues into memories of medical education as a cadaver is dissected. Ancient sacrifices at crossroads morph into modern emergencies in hospital care. The eros of folk wisdom meets the tangible bios of entropy. All certainties are decentred. Disillusion with medicine becomes confession as faith slips. Medicine is seen as symptom. Poetry however affords relief through catharsis (‘Later the antidote, first the purge’).
