Your bones are beautiful,
and your bruises are art;
But a skeleton’s not an easel
for ecchymotic scars.
Your words are so concealed,
too carefully hand-picked,
a staccato of hidden meaning —
Then, your voice smiles away.
You say you deserve it,
and the networks inside
tighten and twist below my sternum —
How did you learn those words?
In them you hid yourself,
lost your dreams in color.
I would stitch myself into the night,
to guide them back to you.
And in the deepest blues,
obscured in hazy hues,
you might find the parts that have been lost –
Return to something new.
Poetry Thursdays is an initiative that highlights poems by medical students. If you are interested in contributing or would like to learn more, please contact our editors.
Writers-in-Training Program Director and Contributing Writer
University of Kentucky College of Medicine
Thomas Amburn is a third-year medical student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington, Kentucky class of 2022. In 2015, he graduated from Transylvania University with a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry. Thomas is a Fulbright scholar and lived in Thailand after graduation for over a year. He enjoys caring for his plants, writing, and planning his next travel in his free time. Thomas will pursue a career in surgery as a general surgery resident at NYU.