Poet – Amy Haddad, MSN, MFA, PhD, FAAN,

Nurses move toward those who suffer.
Nurses respond with compassion,
even in the face of personal danger.
His instinct was to help, not attack.

He responded with compassion.
He reached out to protect a stranger knocked to the ground;
tried to help, not attack.
Shakey phone videos of his murder repeat and repeat.

He reached out to shield the body of a stranger.
Remember his reaction to her distress, to protect her,
not the videos of his death, the repeating gunshots,
the lies that curled around his body.  

Remember his compassion and courage,
steady even in the face of mortal danger.
Ignore the lies that fill your phone each day.
Move with care toward those who suffer.

— Amy Haddad

About Amy Haddad

Amy Haddad, MSN, MFA, PhD, FAAN, is a poet, nurse, teacher and poetry press publisher at Ex Ophidia Press. Her poems have found a home in various literary journals such as: Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of Medical Humanities, Bellevue Literary Review, Aji, Oberon Literary Journal, Cloudbank, Abandoned Mine, Hare’s Paw Literary Journal, Rogue Agent Journal, Rinky Dink Press, Intima, Red-Headed Stepchild, and several anthologies. She has two chapbooks: The Geography of Kitchens, (Finishing Line Press, 2021) and The Most Potent Weapon, (Bottlecap Press, 2025). Her first poetry collection, An Otherwise Healthy Woman, was published by Backwaters Press, 2022. Read more about her poetry at www.amyhaddadpoetry.com and publishing at Ex Ophidia Press at www.exophidiapress.org.