Summary

The physician prepares himself to deliver the news of a death to a family. His white coat symbolizes this role in his professional life; and when he takes it off at home, he becomes only a man with chores to do around the house. Yet that chore, replacing a lightbulb, seems to symbolize rebirth and the sustenance derived from personal life which allows the physician to continue in his often difficult role.

Miscellaneous

Also published in Stone's collection, Music from Apartment 8: New and Selected Poems (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 2004)

Primary Source

The Smell of Matches

Publisher

Rutgers Univ. Press

Place Published

New Brunswick, N.J.

Edition

1972