Since the age of fifteen, Atlas has been putting pen to paper. Writing is her lifeline and her voice. She writes her story through poetry, quotes and memoirs. “The Hospital Room of Understanding” appears in the Fall 2019 Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine.
I was immediately drawn into Charlene Kucharczyk’s poem, “All The Girls Were There, and Gorgeous.” (Spring 2017 Intima) These lines, in particular, strike me:
“I wonder about the part of her that is here,/ the part that is elsewhere./ We do not like to visit her;/ I hope she does not know.”
As I read, I found myself transported back to the nursing home where my father lived for two years and recently passed away. I was there again, watching him stare at the wall. As he sat in his wheelchair, I wondered, as Kucharczyk’s character does, what is he thinking? The more he declined, the shorter my visits became. I told myself that he would not remember if I did not come. Yet, that little voice in the back of my mind always inquired, but does he?
In this beautiful tribute to her mother, the poet depicts the heaviness of the guilt and hopelessness that I too felt in caring for my father: “I kiss her cheek, I hold/ her cracked hands.” This tender moment with her mother reminds me to hold onto and take heart from similar moments. When my father could no longer speak, I gratefully still had his warm hand to hold. There was at least still this live connection. Alzheimer’s is a cruel disease that affects everyone in its path. Kucharczyk’s poem, “All The Girls Were There, and Gorgeous” gave me comfort in knowing I am not alone.
Since the age of fifteen, Atlas has been putting pen to paper. Writing is her lifeline and her voice. She writes her story through poetry, quotes and memoirs. She has a master’s degree in reading education from Syracuse University and has worked with children and adults. For many years Hope worked as a bereavement volunteer. Most recently, she has devoted her time to caregiving her aging parents. Her writing has been published in the online journals: Anti-Heroin Chic, The Moon, Highland Park Poetry, and Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing. Her poem “The Hospital Room of Understanding” appears in the Fall 2019 issue of Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine.
© 2019 Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine