Podcast
On Being with Krista Tippett
This book of poetry contains the poem "Leaving Early," which was discussed in the podcast. The poem is a letter written to a loved one who is ill and being cared for by a nurse; the poem's meaning is enriched by knowledge of the author's husband's past coma.
Leaving Early by Leanne O'Sullivan
— Episode: A Poem in Gratitude for Health Care Work...
Episode: A Poem in Gratitude for Health Care Workers
This book of poetry contains the poem "Leaving Early," which was discussed in the podcast. The poem is a letter written to a loved one who is ill and being cared for by a nurse; the poem's meaning is enriched by knowledge of the author's husband's past coma.
Leaving Early by Leanne O'Sullivan
I encountered this poem because I was looking for some poems that would be appropriate for thinking about the crisis of COVID-19 that's global and pandemic right now.
Then I saw that terribly sad line, 'and no cure there but to wait it out.' So appropriate for now.
So this poem, while it's written in an entirely different circumstance, has so many echoes for now.
The book, called A Quarter of an Hour, starts off with a little paragraph saying that Leanne O'Sullivan, the poet, her husband, had a brain infection which rendered him into a coma for three weeks.