poem
EmojiTexting is confusingThumbs up! Not a diss.Take it easy.I ’m agreeing! Unironically!When I sayyainstead ofyesor evenyeah You think I ' m being a dickBut I was just musing on the MatterhornIf I respond with a watering eyes laughing emojiTo something clever you ' ve saidIt annoys the f. out of you Not everything I say Is the funniest goddam thing anyoneOn earth has ever said, you sayI didn ’t mean thatSo I reply with the bland basic smile face, The one that looks like if he were an actual person he ’d be super niceI need a fresh selection of emojisOnes with facesBearing expressionsYou ' ve never...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 17, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
AugustAugust againThe end of summerThe end of something youNever got around to namingNostalgia arises for a Scheherazadean hazeObscuring the details of whatMust have been your very own life Join me for a drink in the Florida room Where the ceiling fan rattles like a loose grocery cart wheelAnd no one should be forced to endure these chairsWasps leer on the other side of the screenBut there isn ’t anything to sayWe listen, note the inconsistency of odorsRealize we ’re out of ginOut of gasI should have mowed the grassIt ’s high time we harvested the fruitsOf our own forgetfulness8/15/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 15, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Funny, Not FunnySometimes it ' s hard to laughCheeks heavy with QuikreteToo much of a liftI ‘ve read all the psychologistsThere are only four valid reasons for anxiety:Not knowing what is about to happen.Fear that performance won ' t match expectation.Three, that you ’ll be seen as you really are:A fool, incompetent, boring, a dork.And four, realizing that the only certainty is your own uncertaintyAbout anything, anyone, ever againAt least you won ’t be able to doubt that You ' re done with funnyIt ’s not even worth mourningYou ’ve entered your spaced outLunar eclipsed nihilist goth phase The sunflowers...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 15, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Modern LoveModern love is a rat raceSwiping left or rightLunch dates and dinner datesDifferent women, different menKeeping your options openDon ’t fall in love yetDon ’t fall in loveHow do you know If he ’s the oneWhen there ’s a non-zero chanceOf loving whoever ’s next A tiny bit more?I ’m a little old fashionedI like to get medieval with my loveRacks and thumbscrews Castles and moatsMy heart on a shield 8/12/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 13, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Moon PoemPoets are always writing about the moonNobody writes about the sunThe always whole sunNever waxing or waningShining down tyrannicalArrival so predictableLike Dad home from workAnd you know what that meansTime to get your shit togetherOr whatever it really meansIn your part of the countryIt can mean everythingAnd where ’s the fun in thatSome things are too perfect for poetryThe moon on the other handIs only ever occasionally complete And some nights it doesn ’t Even show up at all. Ha! we think.That ’s me!Mostly just slivers of myselfAnd when I do finally put it all togetherIt ’s usuall...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 7, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Discharge InstructionsYou may have clear liquids today And nothing but salted meats tomorrowYou may lap from a bowl, sip from a hatYou may go outside and wander aimlessly In the morning in the evening but never at noonThere will be no more needles in veinsNo blood pressure cuffsNo stickers stuck to your chestYou may piss wherever you likeYou may experience a tingling behind the eyes A gutting sense of loss each time your mindReleases another thought. You may eat with your eyes closed You may hot showerYou may swim in a lakeOf slippery insouciancesYou may shave You may smile in lieu of lu...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 7, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
All the Feelings All of the feelings there are to feelAre never as important as the feelingThat arises when a feeling feltSevers itshomoussionconnection to feelerAnd becomes just another adjectiveTo describe a noun we regretfully call self Most people miss the importance Of this fleeting experience, dismiss It as mere interregnumBut you always feel somethingEven when you thinkYou ’re between feelingsAll it takes is a stopping reflection Standing in front of a two-way mirrorIn the bathroom of the train station Many people spend their lives hereTrapped in a way station Somewhere bet...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 7, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Dick TricksIn college I knew a guy named Cochran who could do dick tricks. You had to be well endowed, obviously. Late night, he ’d whip it out in front of everyone—fraternity brothers and sorority girls alike—and go through his catalog of phallic machinations. There was the “Sad Turtle”. The “Basset Hound”. The “Gentlemen’s Curtsy”. He had one called the “Watusi” which I couldn’t ever bear to watch. “Grandma’s Tongue” was a perennial favorite. He would unfurl his redundant scrotal skin into a flat, dry, slightly hairy flap of dirty pink, sort of like your grandma’s tongue when...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - July 31, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Poem #47If you fall in love with a poetIt ' s too lateHe ' s already fallen in loveWith you If you say something cleverWhen the waiter brings the tiramisuThe poet will smile politelyHe ’s etched your words into his white plate The poet will remember things You ’ve long forgottenThe feel of your foot against his palm Your cheekbones straining against the silk veil of ecstasyYou have to be prepared for heartacheThe poet lives for thisEverything he ’s ever wanted Are the words pulled from a black abyss7/31/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - July 31, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Op Note XLThe first case I taught an intern how to lop off a hemorrhoid. Second case was mostly me with a third year patching up a tricky scrotal hernia. Third case another hernia. Same resident. Fourth case I guided a chief through a low anterior resection. She sees it. She ’ll be pretty good someday. Fifth case I walked my son through a multivariable algebra problem. Sixth case I sat and listened as my daughter cried. Seventh case I worked on a poem I thought was dead. Eighth case went all night. None of the sutures held. Kept having to re-do it and re-do it until t he birds began to sing and I figured out anothe...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - July 25, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Somebody DiesWhen you love somebodySomebody diesYou are that somebody.You are now deadYou become the personSomebody else has fallen in love with That ’s who you are now An object of loveIt ' s a tragedyAll those years of hard work and gritCarving out a sense of selfFrom a slab of heavy stone Now a statue in the rainAn empty cathedral on Sunday night Not the tree anymoreJust a warm nestWaiting for your morning songNot an oceanBut this little boat buffetedBy the swells of a black seaNobody drownsNor is there thoughtOf retreating into safe harborsOf former selvesIn the morning we wash upOn the shor...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - July 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
NutsI bring you a bowl of nutsI come back later and eatThe ones you ’ve droppedIn the transfer from hand to mouthI devour everything you thoughtYou once wanted. It tastes fineJust as the othersProbably did for you.Peanuts and almondsSalted cashewsAll scattered and nervousUnder the eave of the bowl.People who worry about meSay you do it on purpose —Some weird, f.ed up wayOf sharing 7/18/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - July 18, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
SurgeonsThere are two kinds of surgeonsThose who say “cut to cure”And the ones who prefer “heal with cold steel”The difference between them is dispositionalOne brings the cheese to the crackerAnd the other the cracker to the cheeseOne cuts the Swiss so thin You could use it as a shroudThe other shreds a hunk of mozzarellaLike a woodsman whittling at a walking stick One sayswho cut the cheese?When he smells flatus To make his kids laughThe other one rolls his eyesWhile spreading Camembert Across a toasted bone.They are also very much alikeBoth will end up divorced 17 timesAnd all aloneBoth ...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - July 1, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Date NightYou make reservations And I ’ll bring the nightWear that black dressWith the matching heels And I ’ll arrange the starsWe ’ll show up lateForget to eatDance on the arc Of the moonLike northern lights To the funk swingOf galaxies spinningWe ’ll pay the bill in firefliesAnd then serenade the kitchenOn our way down the black holeTo an infinite densityWhere all love that mattersIs reduced to a singularityBeyond time or extensionIn the morning You can make the coffeeAnd I ’ll bring the sun 7/1/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - July 1, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Lady MacbethJust the day before He thanked me for saving His lifeBut that was beforeHe began to bleed againAnd the finely crafted repairsBegan to leak againAnd before I could beginTo try againI thought to myself he spoke too soonAfterwards, you takeYour sadness and regretAnd you sit with itAs long as it takes And you ’ll know enough Time has passed When you ' ve cycledThrough the rolesOf judge, jury and executionerOf the part of youThat had to dieSo the rest could liveThis is when you mustGrab a shovelAnd try to bury itAll by yourself Under the moonWhen it ’s done&nb...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - June 27, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
