Abscess
Hunched over in your chair, / Guarding an abscess with apathy, / Your arm is swollen, angry, burning.
Off the Shelf
Off the Shelf is our section for creative works by medical students.
Writer-in-Training
Drexel University College of Medicine
Rohit is a second year medical student at Drexel University College of Medicine. He graduated from Georgetown University in 2012, and then went on to teach reading to elementary school students for two years. After teaching, he worked in health policy for a year, and then matriculated to medical school. Currently, he is pursuing an MD/MPH degree and hopes to work in community health and harm reduction. He is passionate about health equity, LGBTQ rights, and racial justice. By far, his greatest skill is reciting lines from Pixar’s Up.
Dr. Tweet
Condolences drown in brevity; / Empathy, a hastened veneer; / Understanding lost to formality
Systemic Vascular Resistance
From deep below / layers and rings of earth / I feel the vibrations / Pulse
#OrlandoStrong
The University of Central Florida College of Medicine is located 20 miles from PULSE nightclub in Orlando, FL. This poem is dedicated to the victims, survivors and their families and to this beautiful community that will forever be #OrlandoStrong.
Anatomy as Art: Installation #14
At Albany Medical College, upon our orientation to gross anatomy, we are asked to draw our feelings on blank index cards prior to entering the cadaver laboratory. As we progress through the year, our sentiments regarding anatomy may remain the same, or may change, and these drawings allow us to look back at this milestone we crossed as budding medical students.
Opioids
It never ends / That pain / Running through my back in a huff
One Bite At A Time (2016)
While studying for boards I became pretty convinced that before becoming a medical school dean, you first have to complete a course in well-intentioned but unhelpful similes.
Child of Flint
We lead babies couldn’t decipher it. It was pattern matching — something the cognitively impaired couldn’t do very well. Figure out the rules and pick the best option. If I let myself, it did feel futile.
My Doctor
I knew you were a champion, / though I never saw you win, / by the precision in your choices / and your knowing, tired grin.
The Favorite Pasttime (2016)
The life of a medical student can be quite isolating at times. In many ways, the struggle to become competent and knowledgeable on the wards becomes so all-consuming that it is so easy to become one-dimensional. After long hours during the day trying to keep up with the fast-paced schedules of the hospital, we return home with more studying and brushing up to do so that we may be ready for another day of endless learning. It is one simple task — to learn as much as we can — but it is one that can seem too much at times.
Antithetic
A silhouette sits in my mind / No purer beauty that I could find / Than that which rests right by my side / And teases me.
Unbroken
At 5 a.m. the alarm clock rings / His eyes peel open, he can’t see a thing / And he doesn’t know what today will bring / But his sleep is broken.
Contributing Writer
Nova Southeastern University Kiran Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine
Masood Mohammed is a member of the Class of 2019 at Nova Southeastern University Kiran Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Masood graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in Biology in 2014. In 2017, Masood founded The Path to Medicine, a brand that helps pre-medical and current medical students achieve their goals of becoming physicians. In his free time Masood enjoys writing, dancing and exploring coffee shops.