Hope, The Best Medicine (2018)
This painting is for patients and those who provide medical care who are in need of inspiration.
Off the Shelf
Off the Shelf is our section for creative works by medical students.
Contributing Author Emeritus
Georgetown University Hospital
Dr. Kaitlyn Dykes is an Internal Medicine resident at Georgetown University Hospital, in Washington DC. She completed medical school at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and was a part of the clinical research tract. She completed her bachelors of science in Genetics, Cell Biology and Cell Development with a minor in Art History at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She her most recent research is in the field of hematology oncology. Additionally she is actively involved in medical education. Hobbies include reading, painting, visiting museums (when they are open), and enjoying time with friends and family. She hopes to pursue a career in hematology-oncology.
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.
Impunity from Lack of Immunity
On the first day of lecture, my dear, sweet professor / Had fallen ill with a case of the flu.
Name Tag
There is pain on her face. / I’m walking on the busy sidewalk, / I don’t know her.
Leave of Absence: A Gift in Disguise
Tears rushed down my face / like the initial gush of water / spurting from a faucet
Superficial Separations Meet Surgical Reflections
Open. / Open abdomens. / Idealized organs from Netter’s in the flesh.
Elysium and Hades from My Backyard
Soon, / There / Will be / A true cure.
Anatomical Theater
In the theater I saw you, / white coat and big eyes.
Contributing Writer
Riga Stradins University
In 2019 Kamiar K. Rueckert finished Medical School in Riga, Latvia. In 2016, he founded www.psgriga.org in order to establish a foundation for students to learn about emotions in healthcare and psychosomatic concepts. He likes Hummus, continental philosophy and smoked Blutwurst. His previous articles have been published in theviennapsychoanalyst.at and the printed and online version of the Latvian student magazine semperanticus.lv.
