The Physician Poet

Fear vs Danger by Pratibha Anand Understand That fear  Is not synonymous  With danger  Learn  To sense and t o know  The difference  Between the two.  Remember  That every step t aken  In Fear  Is a step t aken  Towards greater Freedom.  In many ways,  Fear is simply the oyster shell, The layer, the mask, the disguise Keeping you f rom seeing  The pearl of Freedom  It contains within.

Meta Shame by Pratibha Anand Shame researchers Teaching Shame resilience Advocates Promulgating Petitioning Picketing Promoting Crusaders campaigning Veritable movements for change Acceptance I've grown up in an era Of me too You too Equality Freedom We're in this together Blind to Race Color Ethnicity Age Disability Sex Orientation Blind also To our real experiences Our lived realities Our stuffed down feelings Insecurities Inadequacies Imperfections Imposter syndrome Feel no shame Feel guilt Feel nothing at all Yet I continue to feel shame. About my Body. Appearance. Family. Motherhood. Parenting. Career. Money. Health. Sex. Aging. Spirituality. Needs. Desires. Hopes. Decisions. Past. And I feel shame for feeling that shame.

March 11th, 2019 Summer Vacation The waves were playful The children were salty The clouds bobbed lazily Like bait upon the vast Ocean of blue Cotton candy tufts Void of saccharine pink Yet sweet all the same Gulls gullies Seahorses hoarse throats Stars in the sky and in the sea Crags, cracked, crackling fires, cackling laughs A languid dream Gone too soon

November 14th, 2018 Nothing Sounds Like I Think It Will Nothing sounds like I think it will The sound of my voice The words it is saying Out loud Over the intercom On my answering machine To the people I love To the people I do not know Who are one and the same The sounds seem foreign from The way they resonate in my head Gunshots Train tracks Sizzling meat Leaves crunching Heavy breathing Brushing Teeth Swishing Spitting Chewing Scraping Waterfalls Faucets Tears Of sadness Of joy Sadness and joy themselves Songs from my youth The sound of my voice The words it is saying Unexpected Foreign In my head In my heart

October 23rd, 2018 Fall Falls When you object objects And present presents It is like When Autumn leaves leaves For oblivious Appreciative Entitled Passersby Leaving its branches Empty and dry Sap sucked from its marrow Parched and brittle Devoid of color Devoid of life A barren land An empty well Like a tool that is rusty from Overuse Overwork Lack of regular greasing Like a flame that Could light candles But is instead entirely Snubbed out The alerts alert The burn burns The ache aches The cycle cycles But it is not too late Until it is too late Be still and listen. Experience experience. And the answer will answer

October 4th, 2018 The Hole I found myself in a hole again Surrounded by curious company this time: A perfectionist A people-pleaser A scientist An optimist Not the sort of folk I had expected to see here The perfectionist desired the best hole The prettiest hole The widest hole The deepest hole Our hole was not enough Others had holes more so than ours, didn't I know? The people-pleaser had been told to dig So dig she did Pleased with the comfort of direction The knowledge of acceptance The control of certainty The achievement of expectations The scientist cited logic and progress We must dig deeper into the whole Learn its ways, find out more about it Sacrifice for what it might teach us Holes are made for digging after all And we would get to the bottom of it The optimist reminded us all Never to give up It is always darkest before the dawn We needn't stop digging lest we stop just short of the gold Persistence, consistency, things aren...