SKIN | Gabriel Hardman

Gently, I pull the bandage back.

It still hurts.

This patient is young. There are old scars.

The wound is healing, margins well approximated, sutures intact, clean/dry/no drainage.

And yet, I wonder the prognosis.

I am wearing gloves, but I can feel their skin.

It feels like my skin.

I try not to think about it.

I will continue to monitor.

Gabriel Hardman is a psychiatric nurse and writer interested in the ways language can make sense of experiences that are difficult to name or ordinarily remain private. His work explores the intimate, unusual and sometimes contradictory moments that emerge between people, particularly within spaces of illness and care.

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