My Tattoos is a collection of riveting poems, stark with moments of beauty, the freight of pain and triumph. Here, splendor abounds, hewed with care and precision, in poems that are filmic "delicate . . . strong . . ." and "magically spun." Wendy Hind shows us that poetry can occur anywhere, in a hospital, on the skin, and with conviction, she distills the poetry from even the constant "beeping of" hospital "monitors." Here the poems are, truly, themselves monitors, witnesses, testaments to the poet's fearlessness.
-Saddiq Dzukogi, Poet and Author of Your Crib, My Qibla
Wendy Hind's new book My Tattoos is an emotionally rich and sometimes brutally accurate depiction of medicine's miracles and limitations. The poems are arranged in three sections: Heart, Soul, and Fierce. The speaker is sometimes reminiscing about being a patient and sometimes about being the parent of a very ill child.
The imagery is often striking: her child in an ICU bed looking like the spider's prey, her own heart ("the wet engine"), the pump that "keeps leaking." Sorrow and pain are often present, but love appears too. In "Fall of Life," the speaker considers that suffering is "an opportunity to go inward" and to prepare for what might be a "spring of surprises."
Hind is a stern teacher with a compassionate heart; this book warns us that we are all "lying in the shadow of health." Spend some time with these poems as you ponder that thought; it is time well spent. When we can once again have reading material in our doctors' waiting rooms, a copy of My Tattoos would be an excellent gift to leave.
-Deirdre Neilen, PhD, Editor of The Healing Muse, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Wendy Hind's chapbook My Tattoos creatively and thoughtfully illuminates many of the aspects of complex medical healing. They address not only the inner thoughts and feelings of those who have dedicated their careers to the care of others, but also bring to life the perspectives of patients and families who have been the beneficiaries of modern healthcare and continue to be productive and engaged members of their community. Hind's collection of poems is a powerful narrative medicine tool to start, continue, and inspire future healing discussions in medical schools and any healing community.
-Jeffery P. Gold, MD, Chancellor of University of Nebraska Medical Center
Words form in the mind, but they are born of the heart and soul of a life's experiences. With the highest of highs and lowest of lows forged from her deeply personal perspective Wendy Hind reveals through her poetry the steppingstones of a journey that offers all of us a touchstone to the truth that healing can only begin when the hurt is replaced with hope. Read her words and embrace the reality that no matter what ails you, none of us is alone.
-William C. Moyers, Author of Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption and Vice President at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
