The Dawn-Bringer

August Jirovec School of Medicine and Public Health, Shared Services IT 2017 Poem   Before the hill I stand, the sun across my back; a shadow in the sand commands my forward tack, and age-worn motifs lead the hand, the steed, and creed. Embossed with saintly traits, the lure of roguish trades threatens to thwart…

Split by loss

Audra Koscik School of Medicine and Public Health 2023 Poem Loss A ghost of me follows; she’s timestamped with a date from before. She’s unreachable, unchangeable. I’ll be whole again, but she’ll always be there in the past. Two different people, split by loss.

Late Spring Snow Storm

Sharon M. Van Sluijs School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Pediatrics 2019 Poem   Because you insist on loving so desperately this always transient beauty— tulip masses breaking into glorious petaled cups, great phalanxes of daffodils waving sunny saffron heads and frilled trumpet throats (as in those famous lines, two hundred years ago),…

Immigrant Staircase

Rebecca Nye, MPH School of Medicine and Public Health 2023 Poem   Icy cool in sticky June, the russet ceramic tiles sealed with crumbling caulk welcomed the meeting of a chestnut burnished banister accompanied by brushed-iron balusters knotted like the trunks of maples. Dimpled hands trembled with might up each step, fingers clutching textured cigarette-perfumed…

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Lia Sparks School of Medicine and Public Health 2018 Poem   Crutches hold me up Keep me walking like I’m broken Things that go unsaid But never were unspoken Never better to myself Than I was for someone else Patience is a lonely comfort In and of itself Can I reach with sharpened claws If it…