A Green Thumb

Raquel Valdes, MS3

My mother has always had a green thumb

The way she can bring life into a home

Nurse a dying plant back

To health

She knows

The exact amount of water, sun, and love

Sometimes I ask myself

Which one of us is the healer?

I’ve never had a green thumb

Too much water or sun

I resigned myself to being a different type of healer

My plants are bigger

They talk and move

Last year

someone came into my life

And showed me that

A green thumb was not about the right amount of water or sun

Instead

It was about attention and care

A green thumb was

To look at a living thing

To pay close attention to its needs

Overall, to tend for it

A green thumb wasn’t a gift or even an art

It was an exercise

Which means, perhaps I too

have a green thumb

About the Author:

Raquel Valdes is a third-year medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in Milwaukee, WI. She was born in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico and has lived most of her life in both Mexico and California. For her work in community outreach, she was awarded the 2022 MCW President’s Community Engagement Award. Currently, she serves as Fundraising and Scholarship Chair of the LMSA Midwest Region. She is passionate about working with communities of color and addressing health disparities, especially in regards to maternal mortality and women’s health.

About the Work:

A short poem on the art of healing both plants and people and how I stumbled across my own green thumb.