Medmic: Poetry

Two Women

Eric v.d. Luft, Ph.D., was Curator of Historical Collections at SUNY Upstate Medical University from 1987 to 2006 and has taught at Villanova University, Syracuse University, Upstate, and the College of Saint Rose. He is the author, editor, or translator of over 690 publications in philosophy, religion, librarianship, history, history of medicine, politics, humor, popular culture, and nineteenth-century studies.

In the Presence of Shadows

Manal Imran is a medical student from Miami, FL. Her poem ‘In the Presence of Shadows’ l was inspired by an OB/GYN rotation, where the unexpected loss of a newborn contrasted with the floor’s usual joy

Still at Risk

by Maryam Tariq, MD

This poem was inspired by a clinical encounter during my Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship. What began as a routine outpatient follow-up revealed, through a single screening question, a recent suicide attempt by a teen who had appeared stable. The piece reflects on the tension between clinical progress and hidden emotional suffering, and the critical importance of asking direct questions ,even when things seem “better.”

Cosmetology

D. R. James, retired from 40 years of teaching college writing, literature, and peace studies, lives with his wife, a former hospice social worker and bereavement counselor, in Saugatuck, Michigan. His latest of 10 collections is Mobius Trip (Dos Madres Press). https://www.amazon.com/author/drjamesauthorpage

Helix Moon Piercing

Priscilla Duran Luciano, MD, is a research fellow in cardiovascular epidemiology and an emerging poet based in New York City. Passionate about the heart in both clinical and poetic senses, she writes at the intersection of medicine, identity, love, and resilience.

Ode to an appendix

Samuel Weisenthal, PhD, MD, MS explores the humanistic implications of statistical frameworks for medical decision-making through essays, poetry, and visual art. He aims to facilitate the application of evidence to medicine in a way that is both rigorous and patient-centered.