Blood Draw
Unsheathe a hollow spear and spill from ephemeral streams of blue. / Hold it against me only for a moment to let my skin seize against the cold steel.
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
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine
Mahmud is a fourth year medical student at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine in Lubbock, Texas Class of 2022. In 2018, he graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. He enjoys traveling, discovering new parks, and drinking cold brew coffee in his free time. In the future, Mahmud would like to pursue a career in dermatology.
To Hope, Intrepid
On a search for / assurance, / I was sat across / the Intrepid
The Flame of Life
There is something about lighting a match. / Such power and awe, / Something that might catch a stronghold
The Cost
There is a darkness that lingers above. / Alive and breathing, / Short shallow breaths.
I Miss You, Too
There are fewer flowers in the hospital rooms now. / The ones sent to room 22 / have been taken out.
You Should Know
You say that I must be hot / and reach over to take my coat off. / No, I’ll keep it on.
Half-mast
you’re making things worse / rubbing wounds with the salt / from their own sweat
Patient Advocate
“Abuse is of use.” / That is what we tell ourselves. / That it makes us stronger.
feeling unmatched
These are the subjects / you taught me, but as I sit in this / despair, they don’t comfort me. / I need you to teach me more.
OB/GYN Introductions
I heard about the blood / that you described as a flood, / and the terrible stomach pain
You
I see You / Holding up the sign / standing in line / or in a crowd / loud and proud.
What Science Can Kiss
Those voluble cells which / lay softly atop the glass slide / compose the truth, compose the / cabalistic dialect of you and I
Contributing Writer
Emory University School of Medicine
John is a third-year medical student at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA class of 2022. In 2017, he graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology. He enjoys playing soccer, going on runs around town, and reading/writing poems in his free time. After graduating medical school, John would like to pursue a career in either neuropathology or emergency medicine.
