You
You’ve taken everything / Nothing is left
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
Medical College of Wisconsin
Sarah is a third year medical student at Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin class of 2023. In 2019, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Science in both biochemistry and Spanish language. She enjoys spending time with her husband Ben, creating artwork, and practicing pilates in her free time. After graduating from medical school, Sarah would like to pursue a career in orthopaedic surgery.
Circle of Life
Screams. Tears. Despair. / A sense of sadness in the atmosphere.
A Clinical Outing
The hospital room is / fair, square, sterile — / by its vapid / medical posters / and lusterless hospital tools.
Relief
Tears for the dead, tears for the living / who persist in this world that is so unforgiving
Forgive Me
In my white coat, / I ask for forgiveness. / Forgive me, / to the weary homeless man
The First Physical
General: / Patient is in NAD, / except for being awoken at 7 a.m. by someone he has never met
As a Phoenix
Dead eschars are excised. / Skin grafts grow like flowers / Repotted for new life.
Grandpapa’s Gift
Grandpapa had a gift for storytelling. / Sitting on the two-legged stools at the end of the Hutong,
Gynecologic Oncology Surgeons: Normal-Sized Giants
Bleary-eyed, / Surgical cap awry, / I follow in a single file line.
His Last, First Breath
As I unzip the synthetic shroud, / he breathes his last, first breath: / one final exhalation from the plastic pleura / before we make acquaintance.
Intubate
Medical student, why don’t you intubate? / The OR is safe, it’ll go great.
Shortcomings of a Sanctuary
In the hospital lobby, three police officers / surrounded a woman in an oversized, white T-shirt, / sitting in a corner chair that nearly swallowed her whole, / enveloping her in its dull, floral pattern.
Contributing Writer
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Tulsi Patel is a second year medical student in the MD/MPH program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She graduated from Columbia University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in neuroscience and behavior. She loves listening to podcasts, visiting art museums, reading poetry, hiking, and running outdoors. Tulsi is excited to explore pediatrics and internal medicine while centering health equity by applying her public health degree, narrative medicine, and humanism in medicine.