The Long Burnout

The Long Burnout is the poetic chronicle of a doctor’s burnout, beginning with and continuing past the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course, burnout is a primary concern facing the medical profession today, and probably all of society. The anxiety created by the virus and its endless variants was amplified by difficulties in caring for people, preexisting pressures, and ever-worsening resource scarcities. And, when things seemed darkest, the author suffered the loss of his father, which added grieving to the ordeal. However, a slow process of recovery began thereafter, thanks to a supportive family, exercise and healthy habits, the catharsis of writing, and the tincture of time. These poems express a year of suffering and healing playing out among existential contexts, our place in a world which we are degrading, and a universe we still can’t understand. If only we could reverse our own civilization’s long burnout to achieve a respectful state of equilibrium with our surroundings: homeostasis, biologically, or the Buddhist idea of Oneness with the world.