Poet and nurse practitioner Carolyn Welch captures a summer moment in Intima‘s “Relapse.” Welch’s daughter suffers from mental illness. She begins with an acknowledgment that is familiar to anyone who loves a person with a chronic condition that remits and relapses: “Of course we knew it could happen.”
Welch’s poem is a recognition that life moves forward despite the shadow of such a recurrence threatening to disrupt: “…summer plodded on with heat and harvest– / a steady supply of peppers and tomatoes;” The garden and growth are reliable, predictable, even as Welsh speaks to her daughter who has returned to an undesirable state of illness. Welch, with heartbreak evident, realizes “the meds are off.”
Writing Prompt: Consider a chronic illness that can relapse, often unpredictably: depression, multiple sclerosis, addiction, cancer. How does it feel to be the family member, the physician, the patient for each of these conditions? Write a triptych that includes each of these perspectives. Alternatively, near the end of her poem Welch acknowledges a “nagging failure of want.” Have you felt a similar sentiment as a family member is suffering? Write for 10 minutes.