A countryman

On the long flats north of the river An elder in a leather jacket Is hitchhiking to his daughter’s funeral From: Poems the size of photographs by Les Murray. Commentary This short poem by Les Murray gives us an image of an Aboriginal elder in the Australian outback. Aboriginal peoples suffer from poverty, very poor Read More …

This overdose was different

She clearly didn’t know that this overdose was different. This time, he was dead. In the emergency department (ED), we’ve become all too familiar with the twenty-something code-blue patient – usually male, often found at the train station around 7:30 am. The medical management of a cardiac arrest was familiar, but seeing it happen outside Read More …

Death from the other side of the bed

Ian Rankin. I don’t really blame people for shunning the dying. I try to do it myself, not physically but mentally by painting other pictures in my head. My mother has perhaps less than a week to live. If what she’s doing now is living. Not living, just there. At least I can go to Read More …