Rafael Campo Poems

Not long ago, I studied medicine.
It was terrible, what the body told.
I'd look inside another person's mouth,
...

While jogging on the treadmill at the gym,
that exercise in getting nowhere fast,
I realized we need a health pandemic.
...

Admitted to the hospital again.
The second bout of pneumocystis back
In January almost killed him; then,
He'd sworn to us he'd die at home.He baked
...

To cure myself of wanting Cuban songs,
I wrote a Cuban song about the need
For people to suppress their fantasies,
Especially unhealthy ones. The song
...

Arriving late, my clinic having run
past 6 again, I realize I don't
have cancer, don't have HIV, like them,
these students who are patients, who I lead
...

What I would like to give them for a change
is not the usual prescription with
its hubris of the power to restore,
...