two slides
after three years go by / you appear on two slides / in a lecture / on motor neuron disease
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.
Medical Student Editor and Contributing Writer
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Slavena Salve Nissan moved to Brooklyn, New York from Baku, Azerbaijan when she was 6-years-old and comes from an ethnic minority known as the Mountain Jews. She graduated with a major in biology from the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in 2015 and after graduation, worked as a medical receptionist. She’s currently a fourth year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where she’s continuing to explore the intricacies of her two passions: healthcare and the arts.
Under
Little girl / in the pink hospital gown / sits in a windowless room.
A Privilege to Chore
The many tables corral him, / All the people surround him, / A trained doctor he is not, / Giving up, he hasn’t thought.
Nascent Hands
First, do no harm, but to harm not I must first see / With swift breath, I begin. / You, silent teacher, my new textbook
One Step At A Time
My mind wakes up in the morning / Sweating with facts / Preparing / For the archeological dig.
Medical School
Felt like war, those early years, / We fought a fight for all those years.
Are We All Impostors?
Is it just me? / Or does it seem / that my pride / will not let me be
No Emergency Contacts
I found them for you. / Your blonde little girls who grew into women / Then grew apart from you. / I found them.
Dreams Versus Reality
My balance beam within the clouds / Seems lost amongst the starry night / As dreams and thoughts blur vision to / The reality of my true plight.
Writer-in-Training
University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Alayna is a first year medical student at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando, Florida. She also has a Molecular Biology and Microbiology degree from the University of Central Florida and is a proud Orlando native who knows that Orlando is much more than just theme parks and tourists. Her medical interests include community health, global health, and bioethics. When not studying, she enjoys reading fiction novels, rollerblading at local parks, and planning her next travel adventure.