RX: A Poetic Act of Resistance and Resilience
August 4, 2020

RX: A Poetic Act of Resistance and Resilience
What gives us olaga
What gives us soifua maloloina
The rationed insulin
The hard pills to swallow
Only heal the
Physical
Pain
What prescription
Can be written
To heal the
Trauma
We have
Survived
Our hypertension
Is a reflection
Of the stress
And salty diets forced upon us
As our culture was stolen
What could I prescribe
Our diabetes
Are from the
Sugar Sweet Keys
And
Locks we long to open
What could I prescribe
For our kidney failure
When we can no longer filter
What is us
What is them
When we need to
Transplant
The essence of what we were
To live a life
We are not meant to
To adopt
Words, ways, woes
That are not ours to
Hold
What could I prescribe
For the transgenerational trauma
Rooted in my ancestors
That grows in
My people today
Like the undertow
Pulling us
To the past
The generational
Pain
Of losing more of our island
Every year
What medications, treatments, procedures
Could I prescribe
To heal my people
As a student
A product of toil, taro, and toa
A first generation college student
An advocate wanting to fix everything
The only thing I can do
Is go to class
Honor my ancestors
And persevere
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About the writer: I am Elizabeth Anne Mailo Paulson, a south end Seattleite afakasi, mixed Samoan and white. (The literal translation is "someone who is half caste"). I am pictured above, with my Grandmother. Covid is rampant in the Pacific Islander community and I wanted to use this opportunity to destigmatize mask wearing, especially among the older generations.
I am a graduate student in the Health Management and Policy dual program at Oregon Health and Science and Portland State University’s School of Public Health. My work has been published in Western Washington University’s “Jeopardy Magazine” and “Hunger Mountain”.
When working in public health, the ability to convert difficult concepts into easily understood layman’s terms is an often emphasized skill. However, complex and nuanced ideas can be just as difficult for trained healthcare professionals to grasp.
For many, the concept of pervasive systemic racism in healthcare escapes their understanding. This is despite their many years in the field leaving no positive change for minority populations.
This is where I believe the impact of creative work can create better healthcare opportunities.
Poetry is important to my work because (creative ) writing brings empathy and humanity to healthcare. Poetry fills in the gaps that “formal” methods of communication and learning, such as textbooks and lectures, leave out.
In my experience, lectures left me frustrated. While we learned about multiple health disparities affecting the Samoan community, we did not discuss what solutions could look like. For decades, members of my community have been ravaged by obesity related diseases such as diabetes and kidney disease.
The effects of colonialism are not only the root of our health disparities but the largest disease itself. In order to improve the health of my community, steps of decolonization must be taken. Through poetry, I can be a part of that journey.
Poetry is an act of resistance. Poetry is an act of resilience. Poetry is a bridge that connects humanity and science.
Elizabeth is a winner of OHSU Library's annual poetry contest. Her poem is archived in the Library’s Digital Collections and will also be showcased in the OHSU Library entrance. Winning poets will be invited to read their poems at the Medicine as Poetry, Poetry as Medicine event, to be held spring of 2021.