Our Listener Poets spent six weeks visiting several units of Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital. When a curious person saw their signs and stopped to take them up on the Free Custom Poetry they offered, each Listener Poet asked, “What should the poem be about?” Then, they listened.
Inspired by those conversations, the poems in this book tell the stories of some of the humans who work there.
Listener Poets Jenny Hegland, Ravenna Raven, and Frankie Abralind
Washington, D.C.
She began her career as a hospice volunteer and then worked as a critical care provider in the Emergency Department for many years. She told me she always wanted her patients to feel empowered while in her care. “This feeling has to do with quality of life,” she said.
We talked when she had a quick break during her shift at the Infusion Center. She told me how important it was for her to make the most of the moments she had to make connections with people.
She told me that she had lived in Florida for 50 years but now that she had an empty nest, she’d become a traveling nurse so she could live in different places. “I was only supposed to be in D.C. for three months,” she said, “but now I’ve been here for nine because I just love it so much.”
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