Writing Contest
Marilyn Aschoff Mellor, M.D.
By Kim Kiser
How long have you been writing?
All my life. When I was growing up, I was going to be either a doctor or a writer. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized I could do both. Once I was established as an M.D. and finally had some spare time on my hands, I got an M.F.A. from Hamline.
Have you always written poetry?
At Hamline, my area of concentration was fiction, not poetry. It didn’t feel right to me at the time. I put my writing aside for a while, and a little over a year ago, I started writing again. This time I tried poetry, and for whatever reason, it clicked.
What was the inspiration for “Baby’s Breath”?
Sapphire was a patient I had taken care of. She wasn’t the first baby that I’ve cared for who died, and she won’t be the last. The hardest part of working in an ER is the death of a child. It affects all of us, not just the grieving parents and the child’s family. Every person who has taken care of that child is affected by the death—from the medics to the doctors, the nurses, all of the ancillary personnel. My writing about it was my way of working through the grief I had for this little girl, and she was such a beautiful, beautiful baby.
When did you write the poem?
I worked on the poem shortly after she died. It was one of the first pieces I worked on when I started to write again. But it sat at the back of my folder. It was about 80 percent complete. I knew there was something missing, but I didn’t know what it was. I had written it up to the point where I ask “Did you not hear the latching of the gate behind you?” When I took it out again a few months ago, I knew that I needed to bring the caregivers into the poem. It brought it down to the personal level.
Have you shared it with others?
I haven’t shared it with the parents. It’s been well over a year since the baby died, and I’ve lost track of them. I have not shared it with people who were in the ER that day, either. But when they see it, they’ll recognize it.
What inspires you to write?
Just about anything can inspire me. In the medical field, we see things that are so powerful that people in everyday life can’t really appreciate them. I felt that this poem might reach people and make them understand a little more about what we do in the ER and how it affects us.
Read "Baby's Breath"