Usman Hameedi is a Pakistani-American scientist and poet. Since 2008, he has competed in and coached for collegiate, national, and international level poetry slams. He has been featured on Upworthy, Huffington Post, and the Story Collider: Storytelling for Scientists podcast. His poem “Heirloom” appears in the Fall 2019 Intima.
Our parents are often our first examples of superheroes. They make gourmet meals from minimum wage, give hugs that vanquish our demons, and provide limitless love. They are impervious to damage or decay and are always ready to save our days. So, seeing the human in them, the mortality in their breath is unsettling. When they come to need us, we feel so grossly unprepared.
In my poem “Heirloom,” I mentioned that “I have never known my dad living without insulin.” I knew my dad had his morning rituals but everything seemed under control. As I grew older, I saw more of my dad’s fragility. He’s doing much better nowadays, but I still haven’t entirely processed the hospital beds, medications, and diagnoses. I’m thankful for the honesty Jennifer Abcug had in her piece “Daddy,” (Spring 2019 Intima) where she brings us with her as she takes her father to the Dialysis Center. I can imagine myself in the “room where they sit (the humans getting filtered).” This routine is physically and emotionally difficult. I was reminded of all the times I gave my dad his insulin injections and stayed with him in the hospital. Some days, I worry about him like he is my own child and “so backwards this is. [Child] protecting father.”
Jennifer Abcug also wrote a Crossroads piece, where she discusses how Jake Minor’s “The Crash” resonates with her. Jake’s piece was beautifully written and details how he too had to learn to be his father’s caretaker. The imagery is vivid and touching; we are given an intimate look into the relationship Jake had with his father. Jake talks about his dad trying to ride a bike and falling. His dad gave Jake “a look of fear that sons rarely see from fathers.” It reminded me of seeing my dad flustered for the first time and me realizing that I had to be the one to take charge of the situation. The superhero cape felt heavy on my shoulders but I needed to step up. The pieces that Jennifer and Jake so graciously shared remind us that no one is truly ready to take care of their parents. Becoming the hero our parents need is a taxing journey but we need to remind ourselves that our parents already gave us the blueprints we need to rise to the occasion. In addition to that, we are not alone in feeling unprepared.
Usman Hameedi is a Pakistani-American scientist and poet. Since 2008, he has competed in and coached for collegiate, national, and international level poetry slams. Most recently, he was ranked 15th at the 2019 Individual World Poetry Slam and was invited to open the Final Stage Slam. He has been featured on Upworthy, Huffington Post, and the Story Collider: Storytelling for Scientists podcast. In addition to his spoken word background, Hameedi has contributed to academic and industry laboratories with an array of research focuses, including protein crystallography, mitochondrial dynamics, cancer cell metabolism, and drug discovery. Of all the things he has done, he is most proud of inspiring others to dream big and see the greatness within themselves! His poem “Heirloom” appears in the Fall 2019 Intima.
© 2021 Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine