Month: June 2017
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Letter to Pa
Charles HalstedDavis, California, USA I heard our tire chains clacking on slushystreets, then waited freezing, short legs dangling, watching you—warm coat against the cold, your bag in hand—walk through the opened door, return after half an hour with a fresh loaf of bread, the way you were paid in those late depression years. A few years later, world war raging, a…
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Original Water Colors, Gallery
University of Illinois, College of Medicine Cook County Hospital Masonic Hospital, Chicago.
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Sir James Paget
Born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1814, James Paget was one of the outstanding surgeons of his time, remembered for his description of osteitis deformans (Paget’s disease of bone) and of Paget’s disease of the breast. He has been regarded as the surgical equivalent of William Osler in medical education and of Rudolph Virchow in…
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Caleb Hillier Parry
Despite a successful medical practice in the once fashionable town of Bath, Caleb Parry would be largely forgotten were it not that in 1786 he reported on five cases of exophthalmic goiter. This was almost fifty years earlier than the better-known description by Robert Graves, leading to a later suggestion that Graves’ disease should really…
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Reluctance
Ken WilliamsCambria, CA, USA Reluctanceweighing his heelsslowing his pacedoctor entersFace gray with worrybody tight with knowledgemy wife’s grip tightens Blood count wrongresponding notthey’ve done allsays he,also, “You must let goof the guilt” He exitsmy wifeIhugcry“You must let goof the guilt,”says she I must let go of the guiltI admonish myselfafter allI was merely a gruntA…
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White coats
Ken Williams Cambria, California, USA WaitingWhite coats hustle bynurses of compassiontheir gentle, sideway smiles frozencombating war’s legacy Blood counts fallPlateletsWhite cellsRed cellsM.I.A.Agent Orange rages Gulf War SyndromeAgent Orange, Blueother colors, deadly rainbowBurn off trash heapspick our poison Plastic tubes stained redsucked intoveins corrupted with Dow’s tainted bloodMy bloodnot abstractRobbing denialit’s soothing salve Warpart of something bigger…
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White Coats
Ken Williams Cambria, California, United States Waiting White coats hustle by nurses of compassion their gentle, sideway smiles frozen combating war’s legacy Blood counts fall Platelets White cells Red cells M.I.A. Agent Orange rages Gulf War Syndrome Agent Orange, Blue other colors, deadly rainbow Burn off trash heaps pick our poison Plastic tubes stained…
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Poetry Series
Simon PerchikEast Hampton, NY, USA Without an address your handslean across –another creasemaking the final correction though this note still opens outwindblown, fingerprintseverywhere on her lips on her breasts, on the bed sheetfolded and over, warmedfor its nakedness and side by side –every word is already lostand there at the bottomwhere little blossoms should grow…