loser
You lose / your pen with / the red and blue and black ink
Off the Shelf
Off the Shelf is our section for creative works by medical students.
Contributing Writer
UC San Diego School of Medicine
Andrew is a fourth year medical student at University of California, San Diego SOM in La Jolla, CA, class of 2020. In 2013, he graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts in history. He enjoys collecting vintage wristwatches and writing flash fiction. He is currently applying into emergency medicine.
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?
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.
Starved
She suffers from bouts of amenorrhea. / She masticates as often as the day is black.
Spring
The year turns four. / April weeps: the vootery / Of a heart too weak / To hold the stifling tears until December.
Contributing Writer
Sousse's Faculty of Mediine
Sarra is a second year medical student at Sousse's Faculty of Medicine in Sousse, Tunisia. She enjoys writing, taking walks, and playing with her dog in her free time. In the future, Sarra would like to pursue a career in neurosurgery.