Excerpt of “A Good View” by D’ete Blackshire, Listener Poet
Origin Story
When we met, she was coming off a stretch of nine 14-hour shifts. She was tired but in good spirits. She shared that she was nine months into a three-year emergency medicine residency and was known as a positive person. She spoke of being warned not to lose positivity or let burnout get to her. A colleague once asked, “Have you always been like this?” When asked what she wanted the poem to feel like, she said she wanted it to reflect a positive approach to negative emotions.
“I want it to represent how hard, beautiful, and worth it this journey has been – something to look at in the 2nd year. Something that says you did the emotions, had the emotions, now don’t change!”
D’ete Blackshire, Listener Poet
Stories from Residents and Fellows for the KNN, Vol. 1
May 2024
A Good View
By D’ete Blackshire, Listener Poet
Everyone tells you what not to lose
I rarely hear how to keep it.
I hear how to armor my humanity
before stepping into a patient room.
But how wise is it to brace
against negative outcomes?
I care for the sick.
I won’t keep it a secret from me.
If I hide my humanity, then
I miss
being human
one of many.
I miss
Mom’s first look at baby
and Dad’s first look at Mom.
I miss
looking into the eyes of
the husband who just lost
his wife of 57 years.
Each moment
is a celebration of life.
Even when there’s pain
I don't have to suffer.
It’s a hurting experience
and that’s not bad.
Life is more than the aches
we encounter.
I value feelings
and claim them all
with a promise
to never change
to always bring
a piece of myself
in the room
for every patient I see.
I hear my inner guidance.
It says,
feel emotions
do emotions
cry, laugh, run, release.
Have a glass of wine
with the sunrise
after a long night shift
and toast the rising sun
and the setting stars.
Justice is sitting on the horizon.
And with a tender eye
on what makes me human
I approach my heart to say
I’m doing Good Work.
There could be a hurting experience
but that’s not bad.
