In honor of National Poetry Month, I offer a recently-published poem, “NIGU: Neonatal Intensive Garden Unit,” which was honored by inclusion in our university’s annual arts publication, Humanitas. (Please see the image of the poem, as well as the full link, below.)

The idea for “NIGU” grew out of a writing exercise free-associating on the words “grow” and “community.” I thought of the Community Garden at MUSC, and then of the “gardens” with Lowcountry flower names (Azalea, Camellia, Dogwood, Iris, Jasmine, Lily, and Magnolia) within our NICU at the new Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.

I did remember that there had been some discussion, during the planning stages for the NICU gardens, about whether likening babies to plants was… appropriate. But, of course, a place where babies are cared for is referred to as a “nursery.”
And a garden is beautiful despite, and often because of, the hard work involved in tending it. Our NICU community has been up against many obstacles in the past years and months, and I wanted to honor that hard, relentless, beautiful work.

Please visit the full link to MUSC’s annual arts publication at https://education.musc.edu/students/cae-and-writing/office-of-humanities/humanitas/2022-humanitas-vol-26/neonatal-intensive-garden-unit