Tongue Tied
The motor commands that choreograph speech are a privilege to possess, though I frequently find myself thinking / about silence, / and the reasons for which I may choose to leave it unbroken.
Tag: 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
Mayo Clinic School of Medicine
I'm currently in the Midwest at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine and hoping to pursue a career in psychiatry, neurology or some combination of the two. What gets me through the cold, dark Minnesota winters is my writing, my hot yoga, and my perpetually growing to-do list of art projects. In continuing to pursue creative endeavors, and in working to engage my classmates in the arts, I hope to show people that creative expression can help to keep burnout at bay and help to keep humanism alive in medicine.
Deliverance
Jagged shards of lightning playfully dance across the horizon, / their shrieks of war struggling to keep up … / I hesitantly about-face and land my gaze upon his ethereal face.
Impunity from Lack of Immunity
On the first day of lecture, my dear, sweet professor / Had fallen ill with a case of the flu.
Name Tag
There is pain on her face. / I’m walking on the busy sidewalk, / I don’t know her.
Superficial Separations Meet Surgical Reflections
Open. / Open abdomens. / Idealized organs from Netter’s in the flesh.
Elysium and Hades from My Backyard
Soon, / There / Will be / A true cure.
The Line
I have stood on both sides of the line– / The line between mother and medic; / The line between parent and practitioner.
your heart has four chambers, is there room for me?
time, / its lifespan ceases to exist / as the gold warmth of your hazel eyes surround me
Last and First Days
Was it a fall? Did I miss the last step? These things I cannot recall / Hidden from sight, the blood crept from one lone vessel and began to compress / Nice to meet you, one medical student said, as he unzipped my sheath
two slides
after three years go by / you appear on two slides / in a lecture / on motor neuron disease
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.
Contributing Writer
University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson
Nathan Sherman is a medical student at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson.