A Crab in the Swell
I float in an ocean of sterile cerulean. / In this deep of drapery and gowns, / One could swim out and never see the shore.
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
Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University
Chelsea Cosner is an M.D. candidate for the class of 2019 at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University. Chelsea graduated the University of Miami in 2015 with a B.S. in neuroscience and minors in chemistry, history and English. Chelsea is a writer and Miami native who enjoys crafting and learning new things in her spare time. She believes in advocacy and activism through medicine.
Conjunction
I am waiting for my coffee when / a middle-aged Turkish man / asks if I am a medical student
Just a Few Minutes Before 6 A.M. Rounds
5:37 a.m. in hospital scrubs / Just a few minutes with each patient.
They Say, I Say
They say you’re at the top of the class / I say I’m barely able to pass
If I Could
One thing bothers me: / Books are most of what we see. / Doctor-patient relationship — / Only mentioned in them, flip by flip.
My Heart Skipped a Beat
Just a glance of you was enough; / Rapid serotonin surge giving me great triumph. / Did my heart just skip a beat? / Giving me a premature contractile treat.
Forced Perspective
I know better. / I know nothing, and I am useless. / So don’t throw words at me insinuating that / I am knowledgeable.
If You Find Me
If there is an accident / And you find me / Don’t leave me / But hold my hand / Because I am scared
Constraints
Time for empathy. / Time for empathy? / Collect a complete psychiatric history. / Plus, medical history with dates of diagnosis and current medications.
A Heart
My heart is not a lacy valentine. / It is an anatomic pump / Engineered evolution / Strong walls of long runs
Married to Medicine
I dreamed of you when I was young / Open wide, stick out your tongue / A degree instead of a strong, young man . A future with stethoscopes was my plan
An Oath To Cancer
I wage war on you for you have let my eyes see; / I respect you, for you hold true to your decree. / But, I fight for those who lost purpose to your creed.
Contributing Writer
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Paul L. Foster School of Medicine
Pompeyo is a fourth-year medical student at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. Formerly, he was a medical student researcher at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the department of clinical cancer prevention. He is a former trainee of the medical student summer fellowship program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and of the Cancer Prevention Research Training Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He attended The University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology with a concentration in neuroscience research. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis, salsa dancing, and writing poems. After he graduates from medical school, Pompeyo will be a Resident-Physician in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.