On Choosing a Specialty
A decision was at hand. Which trail would lead him where he wanted to go? The right or left? Both or neither? A simple choice. An impossible choice.
Off the Shelf
Off the Shelf is our section for creative works by medical students.
Contributing Writer
Medical College of Wisconsin
I am currently a third-year medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin. I have been writing fiction since fourth grade, but medicine has given me a new lens through which to explore non-fiction, as well. I believe in the healing power of creating writing and self-expression. In the face of difficult training, tapping into my creativity helps to feed my soul and keep me in touch with the humanity that made me choose medicine in the first place.
The Stairway
Climbing the steps one foot at a time \ He fell short of just one. \ But it is a part of the paradigm \ So I convince him that his journey is far from done.
In Conversation with Ghosts
He wished he could talk to Jane. His Jane, not the paranoid woman who hid wads of cash from him in their sock drawer. His Jane would know what to do.
Perspectives on Building Rapport with Patients
While being inundated with information on most things that are normal and abnormal about the human body, it is important to remember that we learn all this information to treat patients, not to treat diseases.
Gift of Life
“Procurement tonight” — a text / I’ve been anxiously awaiting with both excitement and dread, / for on transplant service this means / a life must be lost to save another’s.
Expecting
She said, / “Doctor: / I know you’ll think I’m crazy, but / I really want to get pregnant.”
Hope, The Best Medicine (2018)
This painting is for patients and those who provide medical care who are in need of inspiration.
Basil
It was pink / like the flowers he buys his wife. / It was not uniform.
The Waiting Room
The room kept going in and out of focus. That was why she did not notice him at first. All she could pay attention to was the way her hands and feet kept going cold, hot and then cold again — all happening in step with the alternating blurring and clearing of her vision.
Tongue Tied
The motor commands that choreograph speech are a privilege to possess, though I frequently find myself thinking / about silence, / and the reasons for which I may choose to leave it unbroken.
The Eighth Day
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to give birth in space? To labor and bear a child in the voids between celestial bodies? Quite possibly you have never really given much thought to giving birth at all, let alone beyond Earth’s atmospheric shell.
Deliverance
Jagged shards of lightning playfully dance across the horizon, / their shrieks of war struggling to keep up … / I hesitantly about-face and land my gaze upon his ethereal face.
Contributing Writer
St. Matthew's University School of Medicine
Farhan Shah is a Class of 2018 medical student at St. Matthew's University, School of Medicine. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor of Science in General Biology and a minor in Spanish Language, Business and Cultures in May, 2014. As expected, most of Farhan's time is spent in pursuit of his MD. He is also a newlywed husband. In whatever spare time he has, he spends it hiking at Harpers Ferry with his wife, diving into new books (preferably classics), and binging on Netflix.