Touch: The Journal of Healing
Touch: The Journal of Healing
After All
by Maria Basile
On your birthday, the sun
rose quietly and let spring birds sing
reminding me of you. As it opened
morning, I stayed in bed and read a book,
skipping Mass – I knew you wouldn’t mind.
The boy and I took a secret trip to the cemetery
and laid flowers on my mother’s grave. Funny,
he picked just the bunch you would have chosen.
The girl and I left a message
on your machine, wishing you
a great and happy day.
I breathed diesel fumes
at Airport Plaza, because the one
I can’t say no to wanted
to watch planes take off and land.
After dinner I hugged and kissed
the only other person that I have called
my soul mate. I kissed him on both
cheeks, remembering how you
like symmetry.
I hugged him again, and made him
hug me back, extra hard,
hoping you would feel it, too,
so far away. After all,
we’re still the same person.
© 2010 Maria Basile
Maria Basile is a surgeon practicing in New York. She teaches courses in Medical Humanities at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Her poetry has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Touch: the Journal of Healing, and anthologized with the creative writing of other physicians and health care professionals. A collection of her poetry, entitled Private Practice, is forthcoming from The Lives You Touch Publications.
Issue 4, May 2010
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Touch: The Journal of Healing
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