poem
Anger StoneThe counselor assigned my sonThe task of drawing what he wasFeeling on a rounded gray stoneMy boy filled it with indecipherableOrange etchings like an ancient Aztec relicI tried to translate his glyphsInto a rune that unlockedThe loving gentleness of his heartI held it to my ear like a shellAnd I could hear the ghostly Bellow of my stern thwarted GrandpaIt smelled like the emptinessOf my dad ’s old closet I placed it against the tip of my tongueOnly to taste hints of the hardFeast that could be the rest of my life I held it close before my eyesHoping to find the faint outlineOf the shape m...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 27, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
A Little DeathYou ever wonder why leaves seem mostBeautiful in the fall? It isn ’t just the colorBut the fact they have a little death in themNow, though soft and rippling in breezesStill attached to rooted living treesBut starting to show hints of the end In splashes of amber, orange and red Even when they fall, they waltz downUnselfconsciously like grandparents At weddings just taking their time Soaking up every note of the song Only when rusted brown and desiccatedTo a crust do they start to lose our interest,Become an unsightly speckled lawn rash,Detritus to rake to the curb like trashS...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 25, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Last ThingLast thing I writeNo one will readLast thing I holdNo one will saveLast thing I sayNo one will replyLast thing I seeWon ’t be noticedBy anyone but me Last thing I hear Dies to the silenceQuivering in my earLast thing I feelWon ’t get shared Last thing I thinkNo one will ever knowLast time we spokeLast time we touchedLast time we kissed.When you ' re lovedThere is the ache Of incomplete knowingIt ’s a special kind of suffering.This mourning of the missing And when I ’m finally goneI leave behind a wondering 9/21/22 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 21, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
A NarrowingThe break of dawn is a narrowingOf perception. All that remainsOf the firmament are a couple of starsAnd a chalked wisp of moonBy noon there ’s just too much lightAnd the universe hides. This smallplace, which isn ’t even a star to Anyone else in the rest of the cosmos,Becomes, for us, the entirety.This world becomes enoughLove is the light that makesJust one person enough The higher the apex of its sunThe more singular is this universe 9/21/22 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 21, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Pour One Out Families are sometimes imperfect Vessels to pour our love intoBut pour it out we must becauseLet ’s face it, how else will you taste it?There will be spills, rest assured,And you will get unreasonably angry Ruing all the love you think you wasted. Carafes and bottles eventuallyGet chipped, cracked, temporarily misplaced.Sometimes they dull to the Clouded opacity of old glass But something happens To the love we store thereIn dust laden receptacles under stairwellsIn cabinets above the refrigerators It never matters how much time passesWhat we pour in every year&n...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 18, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
NecktieI stopped wearing necktiesTo the hospital for roundsNo more Windsor knotsFor me, too much work Too much like a nooseHanging from my gallows Paisley power blue tipsWhisking across seeping wounds Spreading germs and disease I won ’t contributeAnymore to my own deathIt ’s enough just being aliveIt ’s why I don ' t smoke or skydive Or swallow swords or play with fireWhy hasten the end?I should have joined the circus —The world ' s smallest manWatch him twist himself intoA tiny bug-sized bow tie,The gift shop with rowsOf miniature reproductions Of my pretzled contortions M...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 14, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Look UpClouds trundling across skyLike cargo containers in a depotLife is clouds wandering by Where do they go?Parked outside my office buildingI ’m 15 minutes late Making all the patients wait That ' s when you notice The clouds are always movingNo matter how still you need Everything to be, like now, When you ' re trying to write A searing love letterThat doubles as a break-up letter, Using the same arguments With the same old words A letter that only ends When a language is exhausted Like a puzzle is only finishedWhen you ’ve used all the pieces...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 14, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
End of SummerI love the end of summerThis quasi autumnBefore the leaves turnWhen it seems everythingHas settled into aForm of final being Not too hotNot too coldA heaven ignorant of hellCrickets chirping with jazz trio confidenceWhile the birds seem to know they have plenty of time.Nature ’s stopped producingBut nothing is ready to be sold Nothing is dying yetAnd nothing is being bornIt ' s as close as we get to a paintingWhere everything we seeHas come to timeless fruitionNostalgia has narrowedDown to a sliver containing Only what is right now This cracked sidewalkAnd a sense that we ' re allJu...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 11, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
OrchidsLive your lifeLike it was a questionYou didn ' t know the answer toJust like everyone else is doingWithout even knowing Outside the birds are singingStaccato then trillingBut the orchids look sadElegant thin necks bowingUnder the weight Of some inscrutable grief What was the question?9/9/22 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 9, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
OthernessSo much time spent as a me versus everyone elseBelieving there ' s mine and the rest is yoursInside a mind walled off from everything out there Me and youYou and meUs or nothing elseThey say there are seven forms of loveBut we both know that ’s nonsenseThere ' s just the one kindThe only one that mattersThe one that bridges the gap Between an individual and anyone else.I ’m afraid it’s all an illusion though,This separation between selfAnd the rest of the world Which would mean love Is also an illusionOr at least an unnecessary link,That all this timeThere was merely no othernessIn ...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 7, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
PeachesCan you please stop Eating that peach so loudI hate the sound of chewingGnashing lips and tongueThe wet succulent tearingOf teeth into flesh I hate the sound of anyone eatingI hate the sound of breathingThe necessary noises of the livingDon ’t cough, don’t sneezeDon ' t fall asleep until I ’m passed outBe silent pleaseLet there be no soundsMake it as if I was all alone I ’ll wait for when the silenceOf ceaseless thinking Becomes a deafening horror And then go out listening For clues of where youMay have gone9/6/22 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 6, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
SaudadeDear Nephew- It ’s me, your Uncle Nobody. You probably don’t remember me. We haven’t seen each other in years. I’m one of those guys who just disappears. Rarely even leave a trace. Nothing you did. It ' s all my fault. You were just a child. Life sweeps you away. I mean, it swept me away. You don ’t even have to call me Uncle. Think of me as a distant cousin, if that’s more comfortable. Think of me as a ghost. A middle aged failure with a scuffed suitcase. An old cuckoo clock you barely remember from your grandmother’s house. I stopped ticking. I gotta be ...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 5, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
NecktieI stopped wearing necktiesTo the hospital for roundsPaisley blues, power redTips whisking across woundsNo more Windsor knotsFor me, too much work Too much like a nooseHanging from my gallows I won ’t contributeAnymore to my own deathIt ’s enough just being aliveIt ’s why I don ' t smoke or skydive Or swallow swords or eat fireWhy hasten the end?I should have joined the circus —The world ' s smallest man:Watch him twist himself intoA tiny bug-sized bow tieThe gift shop with rowsOf twisted reproductions Of my pretzled contortions Made from strands of woolDyed the color of human f...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 4, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem for my nephew's wedding
I DoToday it ’s easy to say I do It spills from the lips Like the words are running downhillBut what you ’re really saying today is I willTo a long list of lofty promises:To honor and cherishTo love and support To hold in your heart.Then rings are exchangedAnd it all gets sealed with a kissBut it only begins with I do.The rest becomes your life.Don ' t let it be an empty platitude,Frivolous words before the kids and mortgages,Before you start to bicker and feud,Before the graying of rootsAnd the slow slackening of form,Before the unraveling of all you thought you knew.I do is not just todayIt ’s ...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 3, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
ShadeSome dads cast a giant shadowWhile others just leave an big empty spaceThat a boy spends most of his life Figuring out ways to fillHe tries on sadness for whileBut tears never last for longIn such dry inhospitable ground.Besides, the man of the house mustn ' t cryEven when the man is just a boy. So he tries on angerAnd it suits him well.He makes an ax and goes In search of forests to fell.It ’s hard work laboring underThe searing gnaw of an acid sunThat burns his pale skinSo many times it thickensInto a scarred bronze hideThat doesn ' t hurt anymore No matter how bright it shines.And becaus...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 3, 2022 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
