Barbara Lock, a multi-genre writer, managing editor of Variant Literature, and an emergency physician, teaches Narrative Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Her prose has appeared in numerous journals, including STORY, The Forge, Yalobusha Review, New Delta Review, COLD SIGNAL, Superstition Review, NewMyths, The Westchester Review, and elsewhere. There's more about her at barbaralock.com.
I held a newborn yesterday; I rubbed his purple, downy skin with clean, white towels under the heat lamp until he cried and pinked up. Others came over then—doctors, nurses, and there were these medical students who didn’t know what to do with their hands. I elbowed all of them out of the way. I sang to the baby and… Read more →