Abstract
Illness is one of the most universal yet isolating experiences, as it can seem impossible to truly express one’s unique experience with pain and suffering. Especially with the COVID-19 pandemic rolling into its third year, many patients have felt a sense of isolation like never before — discharge parties, family visits, and even simple physical gestures of solidarity have been rendered impossible. Thus, I have written a duplex as a means of reflection, remembrance, and witnessing to the experiences of many patients that go unheard — the silent moments in a hospital room at the coming of night, the stillness of waiting for medical updates, the sacred value of witnessing and hope. The duplex is a unique poetic form, with each line containing between 9-11 syllables organized into couplets that build off of one another — the first line of each couplet mirrors the previous line with the first and last lines of the poem mirroring each other. It conveys a sense of movement and memory. I hope it gives readers space to exist in between the lines, to linger, to reflect, and to heal.
Recommended Citation
Li, Sophia L.
(2022)
"Hospital (A Duplex),"
Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine: Vol. 7:
Iss.
1, Article 20.
Available at:
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/vol7/iss1/20