"Look with me . . . in feathered awareness . . . ."

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Monday, January 28, 2008

POLITE DIAGNOSIS ©


When I think of Elizabeth Blackwell
the first woman doctor
I think of her sensitive hands.

She treated deeply injured people
with the firmest touch
like the time
as a child

when she gravely shook hands
with all twenty-seven Utes
who travel-weary
and standing
on a dock in New York
were silent untouchables.

She bowed,
locked hand grasps firmly
and asked each politely,
“How do you do?”

She did fine with those hands.

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