Lisa Friedman
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Poet’s statement: The poem is about my first experience with cadavers in the anatomy lab at medical school.
The first cut
My first patient was an 88-year-old female I was told I had consent to look. Four of us huddled around her We made a long incision down her front In the abdomen, I cut too deep I could not see her face Cutting violently through her body I had the urge to name and to know My job was to turn her inside out I chose doctoring to prevent these scenes. But I had no skills, no knowledge, and no chance. I gagged. |
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LISA FRIEDMAN is a graduate of Carleton College with a degree in American studies. She is currently in her second year of medical school at Case Western Reserve University, where she is also pursuing a master’s degree in bioethics. Her essay, “The Application Essay I Never Wrote” was recently published in The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine and her poem “Surgery” was published in the journal Hospital Drive.
Highlighted in Frontispiece Winter 2013 – Volume 5, Issue 1
Winter 2013 | Sections | Poetry
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