contents -- acknowledgments -- introduction -- The Experience of Illness -- MUSÉE DES BEAUX ARTS -- OF TRAINING -- INNOCENTS ABROAD -- APPLICANTS -- THE CAST-AWAY -- DEJECTION: AN ODE -- DOCTORS -- THE WALL -- THE POET OF IGNORANCE -- CLEANING Early February 2004 -- IN KAFKA'S HOUSE -- HOMAGE TO ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER -- SILENT SNOW, SECRET SNOW -- A SENSE OF THREAT -- HOSPITAL -- Beginnings and Endings -- MILK -- THREE GENERATIONS OF NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN'S BIRTH EXPERIENCE -- LABORS OF LOVE -- I'M BORN A CROW INDIAN -- THE SANDBOX -- THE ENDURING CHILL -- RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER -- BLACK MOUNTAIN, 1977 -- LET US HAVE MEDICOS OF OUR OWN MATURITY -- HELLO, HELLO HENRY -- THE LAST WORDS OF HENRY MANLEY -- WHAT REMAINS -- A SUMMER TRAGEDY -- ELEGY -- DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT -- AND DEATH SHALL HAVE NO DOMINION -- A REFUSAL TO MOURN THE DEATH, BY FIRE, OF A CHILD IN LONDON -- THE SMILE WAS -- DELIVERY -- HOMELESS -- SON, AFTER THE ATTEMPT -- THE FIRST TIME -- ROYALLY PISSED -- NEST -- THE STRUGGLE -- THE PERMISSION -- IN A RUSH -- THE WAY -- Trauma and Recovery -- THE STEEL WINDPIPE -- THIS RED OOZING -- A JURY OF HER PEERS -- BETRAYAL OF " WHAT'S RIGHT" -- THE DAY MY FATHER TRIED TO KILL US -- WHAT I SAW FROM WHERE I STOOD -- MENDING -- TORTURE -- Coming to Terms -- THE WORK OF TALK -- WITHOUT -- ORINDA UPON LITTLE HECTOR PHILIPS -- THE MOTHER -- ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE A POEM IN MEMORY OF ANNE SEXTON -- OCTOBER, YELLOWSTONE PARK -- PONIES GATHERING IN THE DARK -- CATHEDRAL -- ASHES TO ASHES TO ASHES -- WISTERIA -- PREMATURE ELEGY ( A SEQUENCE OF POEMS) POEMS) -- REPORT FROM THE HOSPITAL -- THE SUICIDE'S ROOM -- IN PRAISE OF FEELING BAD ABOUT YOURSELF -- ASTONISHING THE BLIND -- PEOPLE LIKE THAT ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE HERE: CANONICAL BABBLING IN PEED ONK -- Healing Costs -- ADMISSION, CHILDREN'S UNIT -- THE ELEVENTH -- BAPTISM BY ROTATION.

WHAT THE NURSE LIKES -- THE HOSPITAL -- A WOMAN'S WAR -- MYSTERY AND AWE -- THE WOUND-DRESSER -- A NURSE'S STORY -- A SEPARATE SPECIES: RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE WORLD AND WITH OURSELVES -- ELEGY FOR IRIS -- CASE HISTORY -- TEN PATIENTS AND ANOTHER -- THE 10,000TH AIDS DEATH IN SAN FRANCISCO -- ON HIS BLINDNESS -- Suggested Longer Readings. -- Notes on Authors and Selections -- Index of Authors and Selections.