Photography © Glenn Bowie

 

Healing Powers

My lungs drown in viscous fluid.
When will an attentive surgeon drain them?
My heart balloons with coagulated pain.
When will someone carelessly pop it?

An ugly, festering gash grins at all those who greet me.
When will I find a kindly apothecary –
who sees it, doesn’t flinch,
and only thinks of applying a cooling salve?

When will I have it within me to accept these people
          and their healing powers?
I know the day is coming.

 

Akhil Mulgaonker is a history and anthropology undergraduate at the University of Houston. He wishes to become a historian of medicine and disability. Akhil is currently working on a project writing a history of the medicalization of autism. He has published the poem “Margins of Self” in Beyond Words Literary Magazine and “A Tale of Queer Sorrow Becoming Unabashed Queer Joy” In Beyond Queer Words Literary Magazine. He also has a post on the Humans of the World Blog called “The Skeleton.”

Glenn Bowie is a published poet, lyricist and photographer from the Boston area. He also owns and operates an elevator company that supplies custom-built elevators for clients from New England to Hollywood. Author of two poetry and photograph collections (Under the Weight of Whispers and Into the Thorns and Honey) on Big Table Publishing, he donates all profits from his books to various charities for the homeless and local animal shelters.