Daniel Rortvedt, OTD, OTR/L Department of Kinesiology, Occupational Therapy 2024 Poem For John What’s built around us is affordance. A state of matter. An ice cube before it’s frozen. A mitral valve blushing into the left ventricle alongside the Allegheny River roiling over at breakneck speed. Can you fathom the distance between somewhere else and here…
Sharon M. Van Sluijs School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Pediatrics 2006 Poem (sonnet) Even the frowzy cows I passed on the narrow, muddy path up here think it’s a mystery. Their eyes asked why this high grassy field, so near, is not theirs to graze. They have bellied the fence with…
Ryan McAdams, MD School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Pediatrics 2024 Poem Whispers in the wind led me to lonely land where once stood my family tree its Irish roots drank spirits until a cruel keen blade—sharp with wrath, jealousy and greed— split the trunk in two. Gnarled branches fell, oak and…
Nicholas Gallo, MD UW Hospital, Internal Medicine Short story No one told John he was dying. Before I met John, he had already survived lung cancer twice. He was first diagnosed after a lesion was identified on a screening CT scan. This was treated with partial resection of his right lung. Rehab was challenging,…
Hannah Cress School of Medicine and Public Health 2024 Short Story My husband stops outside the building situated adjacent to the private runway on the back side of the county airport, I give him a swift kiss and duck out of the car into the night, the sky foggy and spitting a mist. “Have…
Bryce Lakin School of Medicine and Public Health 2023 Poem The juggle I feel it coming closely The juggle Performing for the stage Tossing problems from one hand to the other Watching them float in an arc Never gone Just not in my hand at the moment I’m not a good juggler I only…
A.C. Mapes School of Medicine and Public Health 2022 Poem Bloodroot, liverwort, wild ginger serve as a salve, balm, tonic, elixir. Forget Wellbutrin, won’t take Effexor— no chemical’ll solve a long, harsh winter. Sunshine brings a natural cure: watch purple fists of rue-anemone unfurl. Bloodroot, liverwort, wild ginger please be the salve, balm, tonic,…
Anne C. Totero UW Hospital, Behavioral Health Department 2020/2024 Poem “You are the first therapist I am coming to.” The Gift. The Dance. The Prose. A beautiful dance. Your life as a piece of art. I prepare the materials so you may paint your own piece. We are greeted with uncertainty. Furrowed fear on…
Gwendolyn Richardson School of Veterinary Medicine 2023 Poem There is a saying I’ve never liked One deserving deletion, it should be striked It states that curiosity often leads to tragedy This, indeed, is far removed from reality I declare, curiosity did not kill the cat It saved it, and known should be that The…
Elizabeth Fleming, MD School of Medicine and Public Health 2024 Nonfiction “I get the sense Dr. Fleming doesn’t like to lose.” I didn’t know we were playing a game. Some days being his doctor feels impossible, but I try to minimize harm by addressing each gambit. He threatened to leave, twice. I study, again.…
