Tag: Summer 2012
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I am the very model of an up-to-date physician
Martin DukeMystic, Connecticut, United States Poet’s statement Perhaps the most memorable moments of Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera presentations occur in their humorous patter songs, usually written as a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns and tongue-twisting lyrics sung at a fast tempo. With due apologies to the lyricist Sir William S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the…
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In the waiting room – Rebecca’s doll
A.J. WrightBirmingham, Pelham, USA Poet’s statement I wrote “In the Waiting Room” after a visit with my mother-in-law to her doctor’s office in Colorado Springs. Passing other offices in the same complex, I noticed an unfinished puzzle on a table. “Rebecca’s doll” is a reflection on my daughter’s youthful fascination with playing “hospital” with her…
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Blood of my blood
Wynne MorrisonPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Poet’s statement This poem ponders how giving blood is an almost religious experience—connecting with others, giving a part of oneself, a sacrament or sacrifice in stations like the stages of the cross. Blood of my blood First station—awkward screeningquestions. Where have youlived? Who slept with?What other sins? Tattoos?Drugs? Dialysis?The inquisitor’s eyes…
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The wartime chemist
William TierneyCleveland, Ohio, United States My great-grandfather was a four-star general. During the First World War, he was a commander in the trenches near Flanders when the first chlorine-gas impregnated shells fell from German skies, giving birth to a new era of wartime trauma. He was a chemist, trained at West Point in the arts…
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Medics in World War II
Selection from Citizen Soldiers by Stephen E. Ambrose “Bravest man I ever saw . . . he came running right through the machine gun fire and put a tourniquet on my arm,” recounted an infantry man hit by a bullet that ripped right through his right upper arm. The medic got hit by the concussion…
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Pareidolia Santa Fe
Vesna JovanovicChicago, Illinois, USA Pareidolia is the psychological phenomenon of seeing a recognizable image in something otherwise random, like clouds or wood grain. In the summer of 2011, I spent two months as an artist in residence at the Santa Fe Art Institute, which is located in the high desert of New Mexico at about…
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Ambroise Paré
Lila HaileChicago, IL “Je le pansai et Dieu le guérit.”1 Ambroise Paré (1510–1590) is one of the founding fathers of surgery. Born in a village near Laval-in-Maine, France, Paré became an apprentice to a barber-surgeon at the age of 15 and went on to become a surgical dresser at the Hotel Dieu in Paris. A…
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The Autopsy
F. Inge FaustEast Orange, New Jersey, United States Poet’s statement: This poem expresses my feelings and impression of an autopsy report I witnessed. This autopsy was performed on a 63-year-old man that was admitted and died within 24 hours. The remains of this man and the story they told . . . that is how…