Summer Poetry Contest Winners Announced
1st Place “Mama, When Did This Rain Begin” by Darcy Smith
2nd Place “A Mother’s Litany–How to Prepare a Child for a Hospital Stay” by Victoria Meleklan
3rd Place “Spectacle” – by Claire Unis
Medmic: by healthcare workers
The Softest Cloth
Joanne Clarkson is a poet whose sixth poetry collection, “Hospice House,” was released by MoonPath Press in 2023. Her poems have been published in such journals as Poetry Northwest, The Healing Muse, Examined Life Journal, American Journal of Nursing and Beloit Poetry Journal. She has received an Artist Trust Grant and an NEH grant to teach poetry in rural libraries. Clarkson has Masters Degrees in English and Library Science, has taught and worked for many years as a professional librarian. After caring for her mother through a long illness, she re-careered as a Registered Nurse working in Home Health and Hospice. This poem first appeared in Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine. Find her at http://Joanneclarkson.com.
Inspiration
Patricia Cannon has been a Registered Nurse at UCSF since 2001. She has worked in cardiac critical care, neurointensive care, hemeoncology, school nursing, and currently, in research. Her passion is her faith, photography, and the written word in all its forms. “Inspiration” has been published on the Viewless Wings podcast by James Morehead, Beyond Words literary magazine edited by Gal Slonim, and in the “Wholeness” a Wising Up Anthology edited by Heather Tosteson and Charles D. Brockett.
Spectacle
Claire Unis MD MFA is a pediatrician and author of a memoir about drawing on diverse experiences in the process of becoming a doctor, titled Balance, Pedal, Breathe: A Journey through Medical School. She facilitates writing workshops, narrative medicine sessions, and discussions of literature for her medical group in northern California. Her writing has appeared in Intima, East Iowa Review, Awakenings Review, and The Examined Life. Find her at www.claireunis.net, or on social media, @literaryartinmedicine.
Call The Doctor
Mary E. Cronin, the granddaughter of a nurse, lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where she is an elementary school Literacy Coach. Her poems have been published in The New York Times, Rise Up Review, and Passager. She can be reached at www.maryecronin.com.
Graduation
Elena Bryce MD is an OBGYN in Rockville, Maryland. She is also the mom of two high needs kids, one of whom has a rare genetic disorder.
Little, Big Bang in Brooklyn
Submitted Anonymously by a Healthcare Professional in Brooklyn, NY.
Miscarriage at 12 Weeks
Christopher Dasaro is a third-year medical student at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. He holds a BS in Neuroscience from Muhlenberg College. This poem first appeared in Intima.
Air
David E. Navarro is a senior medical writer and editor with a global clinical research company. He holds a BS in Interdisciplinary Studies with Purdue University and also has degrees in Communications and Theology. He is an author, poet, essayist, and haikuist whose work has appeared in multiple journals, reviews, and anthologies. His most recent full poetry book is A Tree Frog’s Eyes (San Francisco: Blurb & NW Press, 2020).
Tilt
Jane is an occupational therapist in Jackson, Mississippi, and the poetry editor at Medmic.
This poem originally appeared in Empty House Press.