Word Meal: Poetry Entrée with a Side of Novella, Get Well Soon!

From being a resident physician during the COVID-19 pandemic to living passionately in travel, romance, and heartache, Rodolfo Villarreal-Calderon is a literary chef to an audience who did not realize their hunger—until served his Word Meal. It is a two-part course: first, 99 poems, and second, an 82-page short story (novella).

The poetry is organized around the three abstractions that connect us all—Love, Time, and Death. Love of lovers, of dogs, and of self; the Death of body, our past, and who we once were; the Time within which this all transpires—the Time of your life. You are invited to explore each abstraction and their combinations. Buffet style.

In the drama that is a healthcare encounter, the patient is—and always will be—the protagonist. Get Well Soon! is a novella revolving around a patient admitted to the hospital. The patient narrator reflects on the experiences of being well and ill, as well as the subtle and comical workings of an academic hospital team and hospital stay.