To Give Your Heart And Soul (2021)
Physicians give their heart and soul to the practice of medicine. Caring for patients at their most vulnerable moments is a heavy responsibility and privilege that medical professionals must carry.
Off the Shelf
Off the Shelf is our section for creative works by medical students.
Contributing Writer
University of Illinois College of Medicine
Stacey Audrey Wildermuth is a third-year medical student at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. She grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia, and graduated from the University of Maryland with a BS in Bioengineering and a certificate in LGBT studies. She enjoys exploring the intersection of medicine with art, particularly in its ability to tell stories and lived experiences. Her art can be found on Instagram @audoodles.
Dying Is Not
Dying is not / as romantic as I once thought. / I think you always knew this.
Outside In (2022)
This is a reimagination of anatomy from the outside in.
More Than Skin Deep
Our successes are born out of / The communities that uplifted us. / The teachers that pushed us.
Choreiform Tango
The intruder slithers in at midnight, / slinking his way to the boy fast asleep, / the tangled mess of hospital wires his field of untrimmed grass,
Operating Room
As I step carefully into the sterile field / past the rows of scalpels, forceps and clamps, / I sense a gentle fluttering in my chest.
Caduceus
Should the symbol of medicine bear one snake or two? / If you answered two, then the joke is on you! / Or, at least, that’s the current popular view.
Trauma Shift
I imagine her mother / Squeezing daughter’s limp hand / Silent tears
Anatomy: A Cadaveric Poem
Anatomy is more than flesh and bone and blood. / It’s more than the donor and the scalpel teaching the student.
HPI
good morning, i’m the medical student / i must ask how you are feeling / even though my eyes already sting
Borborygmi
Borborygmi: Rumbling or gurgling noises made by the movement of fluid and gas in the intestines.
Scan to Scan
A fog of emotions blankets the waiting room / Stress and anxiety, with some impending doom.
Contributing Writer
The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Nisitha is a third year MD/PhD student at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Her PhD will be in genetics with an emphasis in lung cancer metastasis. In 2016, she graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in molecular genetics. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, painting, and singing.