A Psychiatrist’s Guitar
"Hear the story of wood, cut and stained and carved for someone’s need."
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POETRY OF THE TIMES
Hear the story of wood,
cut and stained
and carved for someone’s need.
Caress the smooth neck
a palm can praise.
Smell mahogany
shaved and steamed,
fragrant as cinnamon.
Rake, slide, bend
tense strings,
make them breathe
each note.
Follow silver steel
over the bridge
from body to head,
each cord vibrating
when skilled hands
and callused fingertips
pick sweet equations
where practice becomes song.
Listen for a minor key,
all the patience and flesh
in the finish,
like a man
in my office
composing a life.
Dr Berlin has been writing a poem about his experience of being a doctor every month for the past 26 years in Psychiatric Times in a column called “Poetry of the Times.” He is instructor in psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts. His latest book is Tender Fences.
