Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: social distancing

  • Battle of six feet

    Mark MosleyWichita, Kansas, United States They die alone now;jet pilots soaring solo upwardmuffled voices sucked into machinesspeaking a language we recognizebut too distant to quite understanduntil their plastic faces hardenand eyes glaze over like cloudsbreathing in rhythm into the beyond. We watch them curiously like fishin an aquarium fluorescent behind glass;heads inside our own bubbles,yellow…

  • Locked down!

    P. Ravi ShankarKuala Lumpur, Malaysia The sun was about to rise on another day of lockdown. At the beginning of a new day there is a vague sense of optimism, but that is followed by an overwhelming sense of tiredness, ennui, and crushed hopes at the thought of being confined within our apartment. My brother…

  • Sidelined

    Katherine WhiteRockville, Maryland, United States From the safety of my home, I watch the unfolding of the slow-motion car wreck that is the COVID-19 pandemic. Retired from the practice of neonatal medicine for over eight years, my medical license has been inactive for half that time. In my state of Maryland, the web page for…

  • La couronne

    Sophia WilsonNew Zealand Virions, under an electron microscope, resemble a crown.An artist’s soft hued roses and golds,belie the sinister underbelly, the forked tongue. Everything suddenly looks a whole lot different; Today an elderly woman inclined overwalking frame, inches down supermarket aislesin search of weekly staples, not agile enough to dodge another’s cough,nor equipped to stockpileor…