Monday, October 4, 2010

Gallery: "Itch"


This is a continuation of the Gallery series of different artworks that roughly have a theme of something we encounter in Palliative Medicine. This Gallery addition is on "Itch"; unfortunately I couldn't find any pieces entitled "Pruritis". The pieces are all copyrighted to the artist and listed in sequential order at the end of the post.

For links to other issues of the Gallery series see below, they are included for your convenience.

The definition of itch (n):
1. An irritating skin sensation causing the desire to scratch.
2. Any various skin disorders, such as scabies, marked by intense irritation and itching.
3. A restless desire or craving for something


"Unscratchable Itch" by Shel Siverstein

There is a spot that you can't scratch
Right between your shoulder blades,
Like an egg that just won't hatch
Here you set and there it stays.
Turn and squirm and try to reach it,
Twist you neck and bend you back,
Hear your elbows creak and crack,
Stretch you fingers, now you bet it's
Going to reach- no that won't get it-
Hold your breath and stretch and pray,
Only just an inch away,
Worse than a sunbeam you can't catch
Is the one spot that
You can't scratch.





There's a place
that I cannot reach
it moves like an itch
down my back
and I know
if I could only stretch
far enough
to touch it
I would have
the most exquisite feeling
like a cold glass
of lemonade
the ice cubes
dancing like little fairies
in the glass
like the smell of the ocean
the salt hanging heavy
in the morning rain
but
like all explorers
it's never far enough.


Artwork displayed:

Past gallery posts: "Dysphoria","Last Breath", "Pain", "Afterlife", "Restless","Stillness" and"Grief"

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