The Healing Factor THE HEALING FACTOR - A collection of poems written by patients and siblings at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals - AWS
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The Healing Factor THE HEALING FACTOR A collection of poems written by patients and siblings at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals 2019
The Healing Factor A collection of poems written by patients and siblings at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals 2019
full page illo
Artwork by Callum, age 11
Contents
1 Introduction 25 My Dragon
2 Dragons 26 For Mom
4 The Color World 27 If I Had a
Superpower
5 Blue Leaf
28 Love Poem
7 My Head
29 Out the Window
8 Crownie the Dragon
31 Dear Brother
10 The Mask of One
Thousand Eyes 32 My Boat
11 My Rocket 33 Mermaid Girl
12 Hello 2019 34 At Night
13 To Be The 35 Invisible
Perfect Ruby 36 About Me
15 My Land 38 Superpowers
16 My Heart 40 The Truth About
17 Night Dragons
18 Leif’s Animal World 42 An Acrostic Poem
20 Las Estrellas 43 Me
21 Curious and 45 I Remember
Confident 46 Numb
22 Para Mi Hermanito 48 Rain
23 My Leaf 49 My Hands
24 Sleep 51 One Last Poem
Unless otherwise noted, all artwork is by the accompanying poem's author.
“I would want the healing factor superpower.” – Callum, age 11
Dear Friends,
At UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, we come together
to make the healing factor a superpower. Doctors, nurses,
aides, teachers, staff, families, and friends – all those people
who support children facing serious conditions – work
together to make healing happen. We believe that poetry is a
healing factor superpower. Reading these poems, you'll see
that creative expression has healing superpowers too.
We dedicate this selection of poems to the real superheroes,
the kids themselves.
A special thanks to Michael Towne and Divna Wheelwright,
managers of Child Life Services at the San Francisco and
Oakland hospitals, and Julie Pollman and Maggie Greenblatt,
supervisors in the schoolrooms. To Erika Shue, Jo Miller, and
Gina Boccio, who watch over and supervise the classrooms.
To all the volunteers and teachers – Gayle Buckles, Gina Ditto,
Christy DuBois, Donna Greenberg, Erin Henderson, Paulina
Licavoli, Gabriel Lugo, Andrei Massenkoff, Allie Sockolov, Jen
Subin, and Mark Zucker. And a special thanks as always to
Ken Haas, our generous sponsor, who holds the vision for
this program. And to California Poets in the Schools, which
provides poetry-writing workshops all over California.
Kathy Evans and Sally Doyle
Poets in Residence
1
Dragons
Daniellah, Flor, Juliana, Malachi,
Miriam, Monica, Simon, and Zach
I think they have higher intelligence than humans.
If you steal from them,
you are never seen again.
Are baby dragons good when they are born?
I think the mom dragons teach the baby dragons
how to be bad.
Artwork by Olive, age 5
2
Artwork by Mason, age 12
Dragons can make the moon red
by burning it with fire.
If dragons were in a zoo,
they would burn down the cage.
I’d put a dragon on
a gold treasure box.
When the dragons were outside,
they left their bones.
I have found toad eggs.
You can sell dragon wings for a lot of money.
Their jaws are strong,
stronger than a 600-pound Chinese otter.
3
The Color World
Xavier, age 5
Silver lives inside a silver and black house.
Black is nice;
it makes me feel happy and crunchy and pretty
because black is the color of windows at night.
The street is full of stripes and
red and white
and black cars, and yellow and green cars too!
The doors open and close
by themselves.
There is a red spiked guy
with sticky red eyelashes.
He eats red and black cars.
He lives in the red world.
Artwork by Sierra, age 11
4
Blue Leaf
Vincent, age 5
blue leaf
falls
in the forest
somebody
found it
and took
it to the surgery
room
it’s a magic
leaf
56
My Head
Azalia, age 5
My head is a
birthday cake,
4 candles for my hair,
2 hearts for my eyes.
My nose is like a butterfly
and my mouth makes a happy face!
7Crownie The Dragon
Olive, age 5
There once was a dragon
who breathed candy.
He breathed
Gumballs, Marshmallows,
and Gumdrops.
He blowed candy into the hospital
for all the children.
Wasn’t he a good dragon?
His tail was made of a huge gumdrops.
He had orange teeth with green paws
and red toenails.
Sometimes he turns invisible
and becomes a sneaky dragon.
He sneaks up on people.
89
The Mask Of One Thousand Eyes
Ulises, age 6
I am the mask of one thousand eyes.
I can see one thousand red star bursts out of my red eyes.
I can see from the back of my head too.
If children lose their candy on Halloween,
I will find it for them.
I don’t have any friends around here because
all my friends live in the middle of the forest and stay there
playing hide-and-go-seek at their school.
I’m the only one that comes out of the forest.
But, sometimes I can’t see straight
so I crash into walls and fall into trash cans.
10My Rocket
Serenity, age 6
I’m building a rocket.
Inside are seats for 5 people:
My brothers and my sister, Destiny, Dennis, and Dakota.
We’re all going into outer space.
We’ll just fly around all the time.
We would all look at the stars
and eat 4 hamburgers each.
We will all wear triangle sunglasses
and sing Itsy Bitsy Spider.
11Hello 2019
Ruby, age 6, Mommy, and Nana
Goodbye IV pole.
Hello! Freedom!
Goodbye Leukemia.
“It seems I’ve had it for
100,000 years!”
Hello, healthy happy me! Goodbye sameness every day.
Goodbye Hotel Get You Well Hello Ruby’s bedroom.
Hello Sebastopol! Goodbye slippers.
Hello home. Hello black, glittery play
Goodbye family separation. high heels.
“Let’s all be together again.” Goodbye grown-ups.
Goodbye hospital food. Hello Brother Benjamin.
Hello barbeques and fun parties. Hello “Roar.”
Hello Kamala and Maddie.
Goodbye “I can’t get
comfortable.”
Goodbye nonstop beeping.
Hello quiet and birds chirping.
Goodbye trapped inside
all the time.
Hello Great Big World outside.
Hello trees, and flowers,
sandboxes, beaches
and caterpillars.
12To Be The Perfect Ruby
Ruby, age 6
To be the perfect Ruby:
Play ponies,
some of them have wings that fly.
Eat my mom’s pasta
with my dad’s favorite tomato sauce.
Hug Iris, my American Girl Doll.
Sing an Elsa song.
Draw with markers.
Dream about San Diego
and its awesome pools.
Dream about living there.
Go to Sea World
and watch the animals do tricks.
Wear pink fox pajamas.
Read a book at bedtime with my mom and dad.
Be an owl for Halloween
and say Whoooo Whoooo!
1314
My Land
Desmond, age 6
In my land there is a crazy old hat
that says cuckoo-cuckoo.
In my land there are bones and apples
and chickens and minions
and jesters with crowns.
In my land count Dracula
helps people do homework
and make pictures.
The weather is always sunny
and there is hot rain.
We wear squid pants, apple jackets
and magic shoes.
We float in a bubble.
We feed the fishes in the lake.
You can live forever under a green sky.
There is a chocolate factory
and a chocolate hospital.
We always help people who need help.
In my land you follow my rules
because I made this land.
15My Heart
Desmond, age 6
My heart with its door of pandas hugging each other.
My heart standing next to a panda,
floating above a love heart,
hiding above San Francisco.
My heart is made of candy.
I am napping with my cat,
and my heart is dreaming about loving my mom
and going under water with my mommy and dad.
My heart knows how to hug dragons.
My heart is hugging the sun.
16Night
Anaceli, age 7
I like how the night sky glows
like Rapunzel’s long hair.
The moon is shaped like an S.
I see big bright stars
that move around like unicorns.
17Leif’s Animal World
Leif, age 7
There are different lands for each animal.
Right now I can go into the Cat and Dog and Wolf World.
The Lynx World too.
THE CAT WORLD
In the Cat World
there are trees that cats climb up to get squeak toys
and a toy with a stick and a string that you shake;
the cats grab it. There are cages for all the cats.
And the cats can unlock these cages.
They have keys.
Humans can’t see the keys or the cages.
Only I can.
THE DOG WORLD
In the Dog World
there are real dog bones and fake ones,
and a sling shot so you can ball-zoom,
and the dogs chase after the balls.
Nice dogs.
And there are helicopters that the dogs can hang from.
All the dogs can go skydiving into a doggie pool
with squishy balls. There is also a cannon that can rocket the balls
and dog food like Kibble and really good dog treats in Dog World.
18WOLF WORLD
In Wolf World, Wolfie, my stuffed animal, can go in too.
There are animals in there that the wolves can eat:
moose and deer and rabbits and chickens.
Wolfie has a blue leash, and he can lead you
right into the heart of the Wolf World.
It has a stone that glows rainbow.
I can talk to the wolves.
We can talk to each other in wolf and human language.
Wolfie can talk to me in human language too.
LYNX WORLD
Then there is Lynx World.
You go there in the day. It is always day in these worlds.
The lynx is sitting in a snowy world in the forest on a mountaintop.
I get into the Animal World with a code.
Once the code is done a thing lifts up.
I use a key lock to a shed that leads into a warehouse.
The door opens up like a garage door that lifts,
and I enter, and then once inside the Animal World
you have to lock it back up again.
19Las Estrellas
Monica, age 7
Las estrellas
brillan en el cielo
y la luna
como los ojos de mi mamá.
The stars
shine bright in the sky
and the moon
just like my mother’s eyes.
20Curious And Confident
Skylar, age 8
Curious and Confident
live in house
They are sisters
They sound like butterflies
They wear blue socks
and are all shapes
They visit FEAR
and children
who have to take tests
They like eggs and bacon
They are tan and human
They like all the animals
They are
Curious
and Confident!
21Para Mi Hermanito
Snayder, 9 años
Quisiera que sientes felicidad en tu corazón.
Quisiera que tú me vieras en casa.
Quisiera que tocarias los colores del arco iris.
Y dibujarias con el lápiz y los crayones el arco iris
más hermoso de todos los tiempos.
For My Little Brother
Snayder, age 9
I hope you feel happiness in your heart.
I hope you see me at home.
I hope you touch the colors of the rainbow.
And I hope you will draw with pencil and crayons
the most beautiful rainbow ever.
22My Leaf
Mario, age 10
My leaf is shaped
like one of the countries
in the world.
My leaf floats
midair
like part
of the sun
cut into gold.
My leaf changes
colors
depending on how you feel
on a snowy day
when all the children are
happy.
My leaf is gold
in Japan
and never changes colors
unless the tree
is dying.
23Sleep
Ían, age 10
Sleep has a bed
made of BED ROCK.
Sleep snores at 5 pm and 12 pm
and then through the whole entire day.
Sleep dreams about Star Wars
and eats pizza and ice cream in his
sleep.
He goes down to the refrigerator
and gets a snack of Doritos
and a bottled water.
Then he climbs stumbling
looking for the steps.
Sleep has a polar bear and a black bear
for pets; they sleep with him and usually have
the same dreams.
When Sleep wakes up he makes
coffee and eggs with bacon.
Then he and the bears watch TV and fall back to sleep.
24Artwork by Ulises, age 6
My Dragon
Malachi, age 11
My dragon’s name is:
I MAKE KIDS DISAPPEAR.
Sometimes my dragon
takes the kids to the Grocery Store
and leaves them there,
or on other times
he’ll eat them.
He never eats grown-ups.
He’s a neutral dragon
with rows and rows of sharp teeth,
and at the bottom of its mouth two curved teeth.
My dragon breathes flaming eyeballs
and lives in a cave
with a bunch of gold.
25For Mom
Callum, age 11
I want to give you a day filled with cuddly hugs.
I want to give you a journey to a
quiet room where no one can bother you.
I want you to meet Cal Ripken Jr.
I hope you hear the calm ocean on a sunny day.
Would you like to stand in a kingdom of children?
Here is some happiness from my heart!
Even though I gave you a tummy ache on Christmas Eve,
I gave you the present of me on Christmas Day!
Love,
Cal
26If I Had A Superpower
Callum, age 11
I would want the healing factor superpower.
My hair started falling out yesterday, and now I’m bald.
It feels weird when I rub my head. It’s very lonely
when you are locked up in your room and itchy too.
The painkillers make me itchy. If I had the healing factor, I would jump off
a skyscraper without a parachute to see how it felt.
If I hit the ground too hard, I could just heal myself back up.
I would try to do a lot of crazy things like that. If everyone
had the healing factor, there would be less gun deaths because
people could heal their own gun wounds. But you could still die
of old age because when you get old the healing factor stops working.
If I had the healing factor, I would heal others with Cancer here,
and make sure that my Cancer would never come back.
27Love Poem
Tasha, age 11
My heart with its door of ice,
its door of water.
My heart standing next to my mom,
floating above her bed,
hiding behind a door.
My heart made of love,
made of wishing,
made of believing.
My heart knowing how to sing in the rain.
My heart dreaming about my mom getting better.
My heart always opening to my mom’s smile.
28Out The Window
Maria, age 12
I am looking out the window of the hospital
And thinking about home — Guam,
hot weather,
a lot of palm trees,
so many tourists from Korea, Japan, China,
and Russia.
There is the most beautiful beach
Called Matapang Beach,
Where there are a lot of sea cucumbers
on the floor of the beach,
and I like touching the sand in the water.
We have our very own bird called the Guam ko’ko’ bird.
It can’t fly so the brown tree snakes
eat them, and now they are endangered.
Guam is a small island and I hang out with my friends.
We go swimming and have sleep-overs.
I play the ukulele.
I can play it here in the window.
We barbeque a lot.
My favorite color is the sky,
and that is blue too.
2930
Dear Brother
Daniellah, age 12
Dear Brother,
You are too little to understand,
but I want you to know that I have hope.
You are more than amazing—you are strong.
You are powerful.
You are brave, braver than you think.
I have hope that people will understand you.
Don’t ever give up. Don’t let others get to you.
You are a treasure chest full of love and hope,
so stay strong.
Love,
Daniellah
31My Boat
Daniellah, age 12
My boat is on the sea.
It is made from
my brother’s heartbeat.
It is so strong from
all the joy and love.
My brother sails across the sea
with no fear because he is strong.
He will find an island
and live on the island until
it is time to go home.
He will make the island his
secret home.
32Mermaid Girl
Alexis, age 13
I’m the mermaid that lives
under the sea.
They call me mermaid girl!
I have a butterfly belly button.
My best friend is a seal;
we swim together and play tag.
I like being in the water,
but I have magic that makes legs
so I can go onto land.
I have black and shiny licorice hair,
and shiny blue stars
as my eyes.
I dream of singing on land.
I would sing songs
that make people dream about water.
33At Night
Perla, age 13
At night
I wear a dark shiny mask
with diamonds and googly eyes
with my name on it;
Perla.
I used to be dust,
but then I became a feather.
Now at night I swirl
in piles of dust
wearing
my silver and gold
dress.
34Invisible
that gives me strength.
There is an invisible tiger inside me
Leah, age 13
Air is invisible.
My body is my soul,
it moves silently.
Thoughts are invisible,
but they are there.
Invisibility is clear.
You cannot really feel it.
It takes the shape
of whatever is around it.
I’ve never felt invisible.
And I don’t believe in ghosts.
Time is invisible. Time is quick.
And slow.
Time is a triangle.
Night is my favorite time
because I get to sleep.
There is an invisible tiger inside me
that gives me strength.
35About Me
Leah, age 13
Possessions I Treasure
My stuffed animals—my favorite is Tiger,
the first stuffed animal I ever got
My pearl earrings given to me when I first got Cancer
My soft purple blanket
Things I’ve Lost That I’ve Loved
The pine tree in the backyard in Kansas
that had a hollow trunk
where we used to hide.
In our back yard in Kansas, we also had a creek
where we pretended to fish.
We pretended we were commentators
for the National Geographic TV show.
We caught pollywogs and explained what they were
to our viewers.
We also made mud pies and opened
a restaurant for flies who would buy them from us.
My good health. But my Cancer is gone,
so maybe I’ll get back my good health.
36Things I Know
One day nobody will be sick.
Being nice is better than being mean.
My family keeps me strong.
My God keeps me strong.
Amazing Things I’ve Seen
The ocean for the first time.
Flying in a plane for the first time
and seeing the city lights at night from above.
My Future
I want to go to Africa.
I want to adopt kids.
Tomorrow I want to play with my siblings.
I love them!
37Superpowers
Leah, age 13, and Zach, age 14
I wouldn’t want super strength as my superpower
because I would be afraid I couldn’t control it.
I might crush my mother when I hugged her –
I couldn’t live without hugging my mother!
I wouldn’t want any superpower
that involved a time limit.
That would be too much pressure.
I wouldn’t want to have to lick someone’s
blood or pull out their hair
to borrow their superpowers.
I would pause the world so I could go into
a restaurant and get a juicy steak
or hot wings for free.
I would like the superpower of making my
drawings come true. But what would I do
if I couldn’t draw what I wanted?
38I would like the superpower
of talking to animals. If a shark wanted to eat me,
I would say, “Well, can’t we negotiate?”
I would apologize to the deer, saying
“Hey, Buddy, I am sorry other people
killed your friends.”
I wouldn’t want to control the weather
because if I was in a bad mood,
I might make horrible storms and earthquakes.
I would like the power to control gravity.
It would be so fun to float around
like we were on the moon.
Well, we don’t have any superpowers,
but it is fun to imagine having them.
Imagination is the real superpower.
39The Truth About Dragons
Zach, age 14
They have armored wings.
They guard treasure.
They’re not kind; they’re hot tempered.
They don’t just eat princesses—
they eat whatever they can get their hands on!
They’re pretty smart.
Not only do they breathe fire,
they set up traps.
Artwork by Mason, age 12
40They put treasure in their cave.
They use magic crystals
to communicate with other dragons.
They live alone unless they have children.
They don’t like other dragons much—
only raising another dragon interests them.
Dragons are deadly!
41An Acrostic Poem
Truman, age 14
BITE CANCER
Because of all the fun,
I enjoy summer:
The way of swimming in the gym pool–backstroking and flips
Every time I see a pool, I want to swim
even in the cold ones; we dare each other.
Corn on the cob with butter, cantaloupe, oh, and
cookies, chocolate chip cookies my mom and I make together.
Always riding my blue bike on the trail near my place.
Never get sick. Never get Cancer. And never give up.
Cancer makes you feel trapped.
Eat a lot of ice cream and
Run into the sunset.
42Me
Jieting, age 18
My head is a book
because I know a lot of knowledge.
My hair is a current,
I will get an electric shock.
My nose is a dog’s nose;
it’s wet on the end.
My eyes are covered
with a pair of glasses.
My eyes can see everything
in the world.
My mouth a walkie-Talkie;
there is always a topic that will go on and on.
My ears are wolf ears,
I can hear subtle sounds.
My body is a light balloon.
My legs are trees,
strong and powerful.
My feet are sponges
and my heel hurts a little.
My hands are cats because they are soft.
4344
I Remember
Clara, age 18
The past two summers, I have been here
In the hospital.
I remember the sounds outside,
The taxis and horn, and how loud they were
When I got out of the hospital.
I remember the smell of the nasty hand sanitizer.
I remember that I just got a flu shot.
I remember CHEMO at Kaiser…
And the gross taste of chemo.
I remember the eye drops that make my eyes blurry
I remember after I got out,
showing a grey lamb at the fair.
His name was Navy. I didn’t get to
take care of him too long because of isolation,
But I remember him being stubborn.
I remember my soft skin before chemo.
Chemo makes it rough.
And I remember the teal and purple colors
of my toe nail polish,
And my mom rubbing my back,
And how she can’t now because she pulled a muscle.
Sleeping is soothing to me.
I remember my first room in the hospital here.
I could see Twin Peaks from the hospital.
It’s the first place I went when I left the hospital.
You could see the whole city.
45Numb
Clara, age 18
I’m still going through it—
feeling of numbness
Numb lives in a hospital room--
the sound of clocks--
many clocks
It wears lines and needles
it’s tubular
Numb is clear
sometimes blue--
It’s like someone else’s property
It has many friends and is
seen everyday
Numb
Sometimes it branches off
and another kind of numbness is needed
4647
Rain
Clara, age 18
I hear the rinse
mist pop . . . jump
Erase the puddle . . .
Hush! Hear the snake
Hiss . . . Redwoods
Slip slop . . . branches drip
Drop, surround myself
with a soft shower!
Sing, prancing around . . .
Boots jump.
Rush, crack open
the sky . . . chase the wind,
sing the language of clouds—
down goes the quiet swing.
48My Hands
Clara, age 18
I tuck my hands under my thighs when I sleep.
They don’t fly off because I’m warm.
In the day my hands talk crap about everyone.
They have a lot to say to each other,
but they are not best friends.
My right hand likes to play dress-up.
My left hand just likes to sleep.
They like to tickle each other.
I remember when my hands used to show me the sky.
I tell my hands to stay in my pocket
because they’re fragile. They love to touch quiet.
I tell my hands to hide my tears.
4950
One Last Poem
Quolisha, age 13
How Not to Judge a Book by Its Cover:
1. Get to know that person beyond the first impression.
2. Love on that person.
3. Ask them questions about themselves.
4. Don’t be selfish.
5. Be caring.
6. Don’t always care about what that person
has like an iPhone or shoes or a big house.
7. Never care about the “outer” person;
care about the “inner” person.
8. Answer the phone and BE There.
9. Apologize if you are in the wrong.
10. If they say “I need you right now,” BE There!
51These poems and artwork celebrate students’
work from the Marie Wattis School in San
Francisco and the hospital school program
in Oakland. This collection was created
in partnership with California Poets in the
School through the Child Life Services
at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals.
Child Life Services and our hospital school
programs feature highly trained and certified
professionals who promote growth through
therapeutic play, education, and self-
expression. Primary goals of these programs
include minimizing stress and anxiety,
providing positive life experiences, and
promoting self-esteem and independence.
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