Teflon Man
Mal O’Donnell
Poetry
As soon as we met
I knew you were
Cold
That should have
Told me
You have been doing
The same job
Too long
The compassion
Is gone
Now there is no choice
Between the leaflet and
The voice
I knew you were
Cold
That should have
Told me
You have been doing
The same job
Too long
The compassion
Is gone
Now there is no choice
Between the leaflet and
The voice
All the time I really
Knew what you were
About
Trying to seek me
Out
Trying to find what
Made me tick
Trying to make something
Stick
To this Teflon Coated
Man
Who hides
His pain
From Your Cold Hard
Questions
That run off him
Like rain
Cancer never blunted my creativity, it never got in the way, if anything it made me focus, sharpened my ability to see, to take in my surroundings in the environment I was now confronted with. It gave me a greater understanding of other people’s emotions, what they were going through, and a need in me to share with people through my writing poetry and imagery.
Arts for health enquiry into cancer patient experience
Arts Contributor to the Living Alone with Cancer Experience led by Cardiff University School of Healthcare 2016-2018.
Mal was also a patient and public involvement advisor throughout this project – funded by Tenovus Cancer Care:
A poignant and beautiful poem encapsulating the effect empathy has in allowing a patient to open up to their doctor. The speaker appears numb to his diagnosis which is perfectly encapsulated by the metaphor of teflon- resistant to the doctor’s words and the heavy diagnosis. The patient is internally torn apart by this diagnosis and his perceived strength is only a facade that mirrors the doctor’s cold and apathetic demeanour. I like the imagery used in this poem, it’s very touching to read.