The staff and board of Australian Book Review extend their thanks to healthcare workers around the world. We all know what risks confront doctors, nurses, aides, orderlies, and administrative staff in our hospitals and medical clinics, especially here in Victoria. Countless healthcare workers have been infected with Covid-19, and many have died. We’re immensely grateful to the sector for its commitment and self-sacrifice.

Good doctors and good poets
     share a calling
that seems to be the only one 
     in life.
Both see the world as beautifully   
     appalling,
the inhabitants survivors of its   
     strife. 
Each starts off with a discipline   
     so daunting
it seems that no one will survive   
     the test.
Failed fellows will surround them   
     with a haunting
that lasts all life like an   
     unwanted guest.
The lives of a myriad ‘poets’   
     will be saved
while tens of the truly talented   
     expire.
Battalions of banality be   
     braved
before the psyche’s surge begins   
     to tire.
But at the end, whether by pen   
     or knife,
they know the one imperative   
     is Life.

‘Sonnet for Dr Michael Kennedy’ by Bruce Beaver