Dr. Spouse Journal 4

"The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife" by Barbara Nickel

"He mounts the stairs. Today he touched a bruise, a wart, a man's eyelids just dead still warm––he reaches for his wife. In the dark where two can make room they touch. It hurts. She's crying. I begin."

One of the first things that stood out to me about this poem was the first line: "He touches pain so she can buy the meat delivered to the house in boxes labelled Dr. Mrs. before her name." I like this line because right away you are introduced to a woman who is forever identified by her husband. Throughout the poem the speaker lists off all of the daily struggles that come with life as a doctor, giving the impression that the husband feels overworked. The second half of the poem turned ironic when the focus turned from the husband to the wife; the wife can't stop working long enough to complain. The lines above read with a detection of domestic abuse, giving the poem a darker layer.

By: Maureen Bungay

Credits:

Created with images by Unsplash - "typewriter retro vintage" • weightlossnyc - "medical instruments examination medical" • Thoth, God of Knowledge - "Westinghouse - ELECTRICAL UTILITIES FOR THE HOUSEHOLD - Save Material" • Rennett Stowe - "Clothes on a Clothes Line" • Paul Loubet - "violence de profondeur"

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