"I'm Not a Doctor But" [by Robert Hershon]

Robert Hershon, co-editor of Hanging Loose magazine and Hanging Loose Press, will be editing our Sunday poetry pages for the next several months. Hanging Loose magazine was begun in 1966, the name deriving from the original money-saving format of loose pages in an envelope; ninety-five issues have been published to date. Hanging Loose Press has published 175 titles including the first poetry books by Sherman Alexie, Kimiko Hahn, Dennis Nurkse, Hettie Jones, Joanna Fuhrman, and Elizabeth Swados. The press also publishes  Ha Jin, Joan Larkin, Jayne Cortez, Paul Violi, Charles North, and Tony Towle  while continuing to present the work of new writers. Robert Hershon’s co-editors are Dick Lourie and Mark Pawlak, with Donna Brook and Marie Carter as associate editors.

Hershon's own most recent book, his twelfth, is Calls from the Outside World. Here's a poem of his -- from Hanging Loose #94 -- that will introduce you to Robert Hershon's distinctive voice and brand of ironic good humor. Welcome, Bob! -- DL

I’m Not a Doctor But
                for Larry Fagin

I’m not a doctor but
I play one on
the 79th Street crosstown bus
and I’m very busy
I’ve covered all the little girls
in their school uniforms
with band-aids on their elbows
knees and noses
and I performed an appendectomy
on some old guy while
we went through the park
(no anesthesia but lots
of birdsong)
I had to amputate the driver’s ears
but he’s learned to love the quiet
My practice has doubled
between Madison and Columbus
I’m just very, very busy

-- Robert Hershon