The Poetry of Healing

A stunning prose debut combining the intimate lyricism of a Richard Rodriguez, the compassionate expertise of an Abraham Verghese. The healing powers of speech, of touch, of empathy and the erotic, of love itselfthese are some of the themes of Rafael Campo's deeply humanistic work, as he writes not just of his attempts to heal but also of how his patients have healed him, and of how often doctors may forget to include caring among their medicines for curing. From his arresting first chapter, one is in the hands of a writer who bridges the clinical distance of medicine to face the pain of mortality, the brokenness of society, and the unique and vulnerable beauty of human beings. He writes of campy Aurora, "dying of love"; the elderly woman telling of her trip to the country to pick "big-as-your-hands" peaches; a hateful addict he wished would die; and Gary, whom he feared to love, "contentious and gossipy and irreverent." Rafael recalls the beginning of his journey toward the healing arts in a childhood where the pain of bumps and bruises was alleviated by a parent's kisses and "to be well meant to be loved." Throughout, he uncovers the truths of his own passions and fears, of the tragic flaws in health care, and of his education and life as primary-care doctor, poet, Latino, and gay man within the medical establishment. This is a beautiful, transcendent, and necessary book. This book has been republished in paperback under the title The Desire to Heal.