Ryan McAdams, MD School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology 2020 Poem they say doctors make the worst patients. do patients make the best doctors? horizontal in a head cage, slid in the ceramic catacomb, the MRI magnet preps a warning blast of phaser fire-- five seconds of silence.…
All posts in Writing
The Last Seven
Anna Shaul School of Nursing 2020 Poem Seven minutes. Seven minutes of pure stillness, the neurons of the body firing less and less until the brain is no longer all-knowing. Seven minutes of paralysis; the only piece clinging on to reality is my inner persona. Is it comforting to have these seven minutes of…
Hephaestus
Dipesh Navsaria, MPH, MSLIS, MD School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Pediatrics 2020 Poem I think often of Hephaestus Artisan of the Gods As spoken of by Homer, Virgil, Ovid, and beyond. I think often of the Olympians Looking down at him Bent over his Forge. I wonder if they told him…
Ghosts of New Orleans
Noel Kroeplin, PA-S School of Medicine and Public Health, Physician Assistant program 2020 Poem In memory of PJ Your most famous are dirty. Seductive. Easy. Wafting, magnolia-scented, out of catacombs and thru cast-iron gates. Your less famous we love. A peacekeeper. Quiet. Resting on a bench in your underbelly with a book and a bottle.…
Force
Holly Cohn, MFA School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Ophthalmology Fundus Photograph Reading Center 2010-2020 Poem I remember getting into the car with my younger self the tension in the space was high all precarious with fear I hadn’t traveled far on the outside but I had covered a lot of territory…
For Our Beloved Elders with Memory Loss
Fabu Carter, PhD School of Medicine and Public Health, Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center 2015 Poem Some call you seniors I call you wise elders Living long and learning much. You should be honored Your grey hair a symbol of victory and authority in life. When your memory hides or flees And every face…
21 weeks, 3 days
Rebekah Carrizales School of Medicine and Public Health 2020 Essay, personal narrative Tuesday, September 8th. A “routine” structural ultrasound. “Squirt” said the ultrasound gel as it turbulently ejected from the packet onto my belly. It was warm; an unexpected comfort. The ultrasound technician rolled her probe from side to side as my husband, E,…
Time
Kristen Kehl-Floberg, BFA, MSOT, OTR/L School of Medicine and Public Health, Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute 2019 Essay with case study “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” -J.R.R. Tolkien A person’s use of time is a code for meaning and ability. It isn’t the…
This Virus is Deadly
Jenn Johnson, BS, BSN, RN UW Hospital and Clinics, Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit 2020 Poem It’s not safe to leave your home. To go to the park, jogging, parties, church, the grocery store, or school. This virus is deadly. Daily news of innocent lives lost. Photos, videos, and memorials flood our screens. Tears…
Sell Me a Scar
Jessica Parrott School of Medicine and Public Health 2019 Poem Sell me a scar, love. No, not a line of puckered flesh, White from age, A memory of physical pain, Gone but not forgotten. Sell me a scar from your heart. A memory that weighs heavy on you. A wound that still hurts.…