The Eternal: The Untouchable
What an endeavor it is: / To reach out and touch humanity.
Tag: prose
Contributing Writer
University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine
Kelly Stanek is a first year medical student at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine class of 2022. Prior to medical school, Kelly received a Bachelor of Science in biology and a minor in classical humanities from Biola University in La Mirada, California. Throughout her life, she has been an adventure-seeker and lover of all living things. In the moments between exams or research internships, Kelly gardens, runs, paints, writes poetry, and flees to the mountains to snowboard or hike. She loves God and is passionate about recognizing the spiritual and psychological elements of health: both in the medical field and through poetry. Upon graduation, Kelly hopes to become a pediatric emergency physician.
Operational
Blood flakes / fall onto the /blue, sterile field from / crimson-smeared green / light grips.
Starved
She suffers from bouts of amenorrhea. / She masticates as often as the day is black.
Spring
The year turns four. / April weeps: the vootery / Of a heart too weak / To hold the stifling tears until December.
Afterthoughts on Palliative Care
His breaths are heavy when we walk in. / Abdomen distended: / a large, perfect half-sphere…
There Is No Sound
There is no sound / like that of a heart breaking.
Arrhythmia
Hearts that beat, / Turn into hearts that don’t.
Broken
A few winters ago, you called me after a ski accident and announced / “I have fractured my tibial plate.”
The Tomato Plant
We work in a hospital / Faithfully / Like the tomato plant / Serving a garden community
I Dream Ahead
Draped the head and steadied the bed / For the life-saving aneurysm clipping, / I stop thinking of my former life.
Anatomy of Love
Your Smile / Wrinkles, / Where my jokes weren’t funny.
Emma
We stand beneath tin roofs / with raindrops on our lips / regret behind our eyes.
Contributing Writer and Medical Student Editor
Mayo Clinic School of Medicine
Sam is a second year medical student at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Rochester, MN. In 2017, he graduated from the United States Air Force with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. He enjoys reading, writing, yoga, and rock climbing in his free time. After graduating medical school, Sam would like to pursue a career in emergency medicine or psychiatry.