Campo, Rafael : Technology and Medicine

Literature Annotations

	On-Line Text and Audio
Genre	Poem
Keywords	Hospitalization, Human Worth, Medical Advances, Physician Experience, Science, Technology
Summary	A short (13 line) poem in which the poet-as-doctor describes his "transformation" from flesh-and-blood person into a machine in which "My hands are hypodermic needles, touch / Turned into blood . . . ." This doctoring-machine desires "a kind of intimacy / That won't bear pondering." For example, his mouth turns into "a dry computer chip" that cannot touch or feel or even say consoling words.
Commentary	The poet's view of the dehumanizing effect of clinical distance or detachment.
Source	The Other Man Was Me: A Voyage to the New World
Publisher	Arte Publico
Edition	1994
Place Published	Houston
Annotated by	Coulehan, Jack
Date of Entry	11/07/95