Short
Chief complaint: arm pain, / Waiting in room 4. / As I enter, he looks me up and down — / What is it he’s looking for?
Poetry Thursdays
Poetry Thursdays is our initiative to highlight poetry and prose by medical students, with a new post every Thursday. If you are interested in contributing or would like to learn more, please contact our editors.
Contributing Writer
University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Tammy is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando, Florida. In 2019, she graduated summa cum laude from Oklahoma City University with a Bachelor of Science in cell and molecular biology. After graduating medical school, Tammy will pursue a career in orthopaedic surgery.
Between the Dead and the Dying
A scalpel, a corpse — / His beard is neat, his eyes are / Empty. Gloves hide clammy hands / Afraid of what awaits beneath
CLL (Child Learning Love)
You call me on a Thursday to tell me / You were diagnosed with leukemia in October.
Studies of Mice and Men
Investigate. / Deeper, / deeper, / deeper: / To a depth of understanding beyond understanding.
I Sit in the Classroom
I sit in the classroom, / staring blankly at the wall. / The professor has gone off once again, / regaling a story of some elderly patient’s fall.
New Normal
Never committed a crime, / but now I feel like a prisoner. / Trapped in our minds, / our spirits leashed, / our existence wanders among these all too familiar walls.
The Catastrophic Search for the Operating Room
Wake up a 5:00 a.m., / Cannot afford to be late. / It’s my first day of preclinical shadowing, / I want my first impression to be great.
Drinking Grapefruit Juice
I didn’t know / many can’t / sip coral pulpy bitter / juice from narrow glasses.
Circle of Life
A loud cry as we enter the world. / A silent cry as we depart.
Clash of the Experts
We’re overloaded with so much advice, so many ideas on how to be a better doctor, / how do we decide what to follow and what to ignore?
This Space
This is a space / between you and me / where you can simply be
hope
like breath in our lungs / we do not notice it / until it is gone
Contributing Writer
Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University
Anna Delamerced is a fourth-year medical student at Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island class of 2021. She graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in public health. She enjoys writing poetry and is passionate about advocating for kids as a future pediatrician.