Dotting I’s
For the smaller challenges of medicine, like fitting an entire person’s pertinent medical status in the half-inch gap between names on the patient list.
Tag: poetry
Columnist
A Chicago Medical School
Kate Bock has been writing since she was five years old. She considers "DW Goes to the Beach" to be her finest accomplishment, rendered in marker, green construction paper, and stickers. She studied fiction writing at Northwestern University, where she led a small group of poets called The Slam Society. She studies medicine as an M3 at a Chicago medical school.
Review of Systems
Medical students’ place in the hierarchy of medicine means we are routinely restricted in what we can (or should) say. That taboo list includes our own transformation–despite being only one of thousands impacted by medical education, all too often we are left alone to process how it changes us. Review of Systems is a series of down-to-earth slam poems by Kate Bock, putting words to the unspoken process not just of learning medicine, but of becoming a doctor.
Alive
rivers of blood / dried / by formaldehyde
The Doctor He Became: Reflections on a Nazi Concentration Camp Doctor
He remembered the days / his hands were used / only / to heal, comfort
Relapse
An addict in detox, again. / Chief complaint of “at his wits’ end” / Manipulation, his malicious game.
Forget
Ajoba shuffles across the room towards aji, screaming / ‘Why do you ask the same questions over and over again?’ / ‘Why can’t you just try to remember?’ / ‘I forget’, she replies
Putting Baby to Sleep
The mask on baby’s face / And he knew and didnt know what was going on; / He had blurred vision / And an amnestic cocktail coursing through his veins already
Hear My Song Reaper
I could see the scythe swinging from one eye to another / The Reaper hovered towards my room / Life had left me months ago, when I had first heard the news / Now I knew it would’ve been better, had I not left the womb
The Hidden Curriculum
“It’s time to wake up boss, please open your eyes. / There’s much work to be done and we’re ready to advise.” / Curiosity propelled me to confront my kooky staff. / One flipped through a dictionary, the other spoke on his behalf.
To Carl, Whose Name I Never Knew
The cadaver lab speaks for itself. Responding, however, is more difficult. This is a eulogy asks forgiveness for every joke, jab and cringe delivered in medical school’s temporary tombs.
Abscess
Hunched over in your chair, / Guarding an abscess with apathy, / Your arm is swollen, angry, burning.
Systemic Vascular Resistance
From deep below / layers and rings of earth / I feel the vibrations / Pulse
#OrlandoStrong
The University of Central Florida College of Medicine is located 20 miles from PULSE nightclub in Orlando, FL. This poem is dedicated to the victims, survivors and their families and to this beautiful community that will forever be #OrlandoStrong.
Writer-in-Training
University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Allyson is a first year medical student at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando, FL. She graduated in 2012 from the University of Southern California with a degree in neuroscience. She is interested in pursuing a career in pediatric critical care or emergency medicine. Outside of school, Allyson enjoys photography and anything chocolate. Fall weekends find her loudly cheering on her alma mater’s football team.