Carolyn Gregory, 4/23/2012

Current Occupation: Free lance classical music and theatre arts reviewer for STYLUS and community activist
Former Occupation: Academic hospital administrator and grant writer
Contact Information: Carolyn Gregory was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for Poetry this year, did a paid featured poetry reading at the Jamaica Plain branch of the Boston Public Library, another at Forsyth Chapel at Forest Hills Cemetery, and will be a featured poet at the Boston celebrations for National Poetry month on April 28th at the downtown branch of the Boston Public Library. Gregory has published poems and music/theatre reviews in American Poetry Review, Seattle Review, Bellowing Ark, Main Street Rag, Wilderness House Literary Reviewand STYLUS. Her book, Open Letters, was published in Boston in 2009, her book, Scenario, was published in 2011, and her next full length book, Facing the Music, will be published in 2012.

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THE PALACE OF HEALING

Long ago, this glass-walled palace was not here,
offering solace to families and bald children,
a place to rest for hungry residents,
no healing garden with multi-colored plants.

Once empires rose
on the backs of sacrificed mice,
grants shipped at the final hour,
doctors nutty on donuts
and all night lab patrol.

The bridge spans the future and the past
where foot traffic shifts
between treatment, dining room
and microscopes,

humanity gathering on an arc
from illness to the afterlife.
We offer loving kindness
that resonates and sometimes cures.

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IMAGE

Her image is shielded by stone
and mortar,
no time to show emotion
except when a gift comes –

green tea labeled in Mandarin
from a colleague in Beijing.
Time to reminisce
before the next slate of meetings.

For fame is unwieldy
and writes a long CV,
offers many trips
with frequent flyer miles

though there is little joy
when night locks the office door
and messages grow random
on the screen.