Tiger, Coco, Bella and Daisy
You tell me you’d like to be an engineer one day. You hesitate after the words “one day,” like you’re reconsidering the phrase. I want to tell you not to, but I can’t find the words.
Off the Shelf
Off the Shelf is our section for creative works by medical students.
Contributing Writer
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Maria is a second year medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL, class of 2022. In 2018, she graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in biology and Hispanic studies. She enjoys traveling, reading, exploring the city, and trying new foods in her free time. After graduating medical school, Maria would like to pursue a career in pediatrics or emergency medicine, with an emphasis on global health.
loser
You lose your pen with the red and blue and black ink when the attending asks to borrow it with an impatient hand on inpatient rounds. You lose your voice when they stand around waiting and the monitor hoots and the family stares and the fellow says, speak up! You lose your list somewhere on the walk between Bed 21 and Bed 42 and you swore you had it but now it’s gone. But you …
6 y/o F, Patient Perspective of Illness
mom, what’s loo-skeem-ya? / oh okay – does that mean I’m loo-skeem-ya?
A Touch of Kindness
In the operating room, a man immediately recognized and greeted me / Even though I wore a surgical mask. / His welcoming expression was familiar to me, but I couldn’t pinpoint how I knew him.
Nose
I take a deep breath / to calm myself / before walking into the storm / of OR shadowing.
Daydream
On the other side there is a home, / With green grass, red rosebushes, and a pool where sharks swim in the deep end.
To the Girl with the Golden Heart Earrings
There lives a city only with pairs permitting. / Two lungs move together with love in the air / she takes his breath away when they’re a pair.
Is This Man or Is This Flesh?
Is this man or is this flesh / That implores my expertise? / Is it meat or is it human / When we meet, which do I see?
Interview With My Donor Body
What happened to you? / I don’t remember / Did it hurt? / Yes boy, oh yes
Hanging On
The scent of illness, stifling and spoiled / Masked by antiseptics.
The Eternal: The Untouchable
What an endeavor it is: / To reach out and touch humanity.
Operational
Blood flakes / fall onto the /blue, sterile field from / crimson-smeared green / light grips.
Contributing Writer
UC San Diego School of Medicine
Sarah S. Bassiouni is a first-year medical student at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. In 2011 she graduated cum laude from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. Following this, she earned a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan in 2016, and she has been a nationally certified phlebotomist (PBT(ASCP)) since 2014.
Sarah is passionate about eliminating health disparities both locally and globally. In her increasingly rare free time, she can be found writing in local coffee shops or hiking with loved ones. Sarah plans to pursue a career in academic medicine and global surgery.