Contributing Writer
UC San Diego School of Medicine
Andrew is a fourth year medical student at University of California, San Diego SOM in La Jolla, CA, class of 2020. In 2013, he graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts in history. He enjoys collecting vintage wristwatches and writing flash fiction. He is currently applying into emergency medicine.
You lose your pen with the red and blue and black ink when the attending asks to borrow it with an impatient hand on inpatient rounds. You lose your voice when they stand around waiting and the monitor hoots and the family stares and the fellow says, speak up! You lose your list somewhere on the walk between Bed 21 and Bed 42 and you swore you had it but now it’s gone. But you …
mom, what’s loo-skeem-ya? / oh okay – does that mean I’m loo-skeem-ya?
In the operating room, a man immediately recognized and greeted me / Even though I wore a surgical mask. / His welcoming expression was familiar to me, but I couldn’t pinpoint how I knew him.
I take a deep breath / to calm myself / before walking into the storm / of OR shadowing.
On the other side there is a home, / With green grass, red rosebushes, and a pool where sharks swim in the deep end.
There lives a city only with pairs permitting. / Two lungs move together with love in the air / she takes his breath away when they’re a pair.
Is this man or is this flesh / That implores my expertise? / Is it meat or is it human / When we meet, which do I see?
What happened to you? / I don’t remember / Did it hurt? / Yes boy, oh yes
The scent of illness, stifling and spoiled / Masked by antiseptics.
What an endeavor it is: / To reach out and touch humanity.
Blood flakes / fall onto the /blue, sterile field from / crimson-smeared green / light grips.
She suffers from bouts of amenorrhea. / She masticates as often as the day is black.
Lawren Wooten is a medical student at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC class of 2022. In 2014, she graduated from Cornell University College of Human Ecology with a Bachelor of Science in human biology, health and society. In 2016, she graduated from George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences with a Master of Science in integrative medicine. She enjoys playing the cello, working with children and doing crosswords in her free time. After graduating medical school, Lawren would like to pursue a career in general pediatrics or a pediatric subspecialty.
