Guest Blog: A Snail's Pace

Eric Cheng is a primary care physician for the VA, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at UCLA, a devoted husband and father, and an occasional poet. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he draws inspiration from his patients' incredible stories, the curiosity of medical students, the even greater curiosity of his two boys, and the dynamic faith community at the Garden Christian Fellowship. The following poem is from his recently published poetry collection, A Snail's Pace.

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OUR OWN CHILDREN

Your child is obnoxious
and loud, while
mine is confident and assertive.

Your child won’t share
his toys or play
with the other children, but mine
is independent and not easily
pushed around.

Your child is stubborn and hard-
nosed. Mine is firmly
principled, holding his ground.

Your child cries
all the time; mine is sensitive and in touch
with his innermost feelings.

Your child’s fingernails are filthy, caked
with dirt and sand, yet
mine maintains his vital connection
with mother earth.

Your child flings food all over himself
and everything else, and manages to pee
on the bathroom walls. Mine possesses a keen eye
for modern art.

Your child is hyperactive, always running headlong
into things. Mine seems
to me – poetry
in motion.

- Eric Cheng