The Line
I have stood on both sides of the line– / The line between mother and medic; / The line between parent and practitioner.
Off the Shelf
Off the Shelf is our section for creative works by medical students.
Writer-in-Training
Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine
Alison Toback is a third year medical student at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. Prior to that, she graduated from Drexel University with a BS in Biological Sciences and an MPH with a concentration in Epidemiologiy and Biostatistics. When she isn't studying or running around a hospital, she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, knitting, and eating dessert. She has a blog entitled Simply A, where she writes about medicine, motherhood, mental health, and other things that don't start with the letter M.
your heart has four chambers, is there room for me?
time, / its lifespan ceases to exist / as the gold warmth of your hazel eyes surround me
Ensconced in His Throne Upon the Sea
I strode down hallways, winding ‘round to meet / A sailor old and take to him his meal. / A gentle bounce in every step on beat, / This home to many always builds my zeal.
Five Inestimable Pounds
A canvas / Of delicately oiled / Skin, stretched taut
Last and First Days
Was it a fall? Did I miss the last step? These things I cannot recall / Hidden from sight, the blood crept from one lone vessel and began to compress / Nice to meet you, one medical student said, as he unzipped my sheath
two slides
after three years go by / you appear on two slides / in a lecture / on motor neuron disease
Pupil of the Eye
The eye dilated in the physician’s dark exam room, / While into it the eyes of new white coats loom, / From this eye I am learning
Under
Little girl / in the pink hospital gown / sits in a windowless room.
Stairwells and Stethoscopes
“No, no, no,” I repeated, first silently and then as a whisper, as I frantically pushed the elevator button. The reliable elevator chime did not ring, and the button light would not stay on. “Great. Fantastic,” I sarcastically muttered.
Hyperammonemia
Hepatic failure claimed him mentally, / And colored yellow both his eyes so wide / As too his being stained corporally.
A Privilege to Chore
The many tables corral him, / All the people surround him, / A trained doctor he is not, / Giving up, he hasn’t thought.
Nascent Hands
First, do no harm, but to harm not I must first see / With swift breath, I begin. / You, silent teacher, my new textbook
Contributing Author
Mayo Clinic School of Medicine
Noelle Thew is a second year student at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine.