poem
BlueThe truth is what we make of itIt isn ’t power that suggests the sky is blueIt simply is, take it or leave it.Even the oceans whisper it ’s trueDespite what the physicists insist —Sunlight scatterings, schoolgirl illusions.The color blind see another kind of blueWhich is just as trueAs the one we perceive. But the liars and deceivers Never look up.They sit in rooms Hunched over desksYellowed by candlelightWritingblue, blue, blue, blueIn giant tomes That get translatedInto dozens of languagesBecause once it ’s a wordIt needs a foreign equivalent2/5/24 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - February 5, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Groundhog DayI ’m not exactly the easiest personTo connect with. Not that I don ’tWant to. I have the desired information And the necessary tools of communication I just lack one or two critical components. I ’m like Punxsutawney PhilFrom Groundhog Day. Every blue moon I appear, Do the one thing or the otherThat everyone seems to getAnd then retreat to my burrow2/5/24 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - February 5, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Weekend RoundsOn Sundays the hospital Is quiet as a weekday churchThe high-ceilinged atrium Like an empty nave Linoleum floors, long hallsAnd empty waiting area chairsThe silent OR a dull gray catacombThe chaplain down the street At the nursing home The patients are all upstairsSwaddled in beds Behind doors in private roomsLike sins hidden in the heartHollowing out bonesFestering in a stye,Waiting to be tended toBy doctors making rounds.Everyone gets seen —Broken hip, productive coughPost-op colon, rule out MINo one gets a day off.2/5/24 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - February 5, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Winter BreakAfter the end of year holiday rushWhen nothing is ever enoughNo matter how muchYou think you have given,When innocence is negligence,Extravagance forgets its shameAnd the long con unravelsInto scraps of New Year ’s Eve confetti,We come to the southern beach Ostensibly to be refreshed By the predictableCrashing of waves against a wetGraveyard of broken bones, wavesThat flatten like black tongues And retreat with seized Fragments of old shieldsCeded by soft bodiesForever lost.It ’s too cold in January, even down Here just north of the Tropic of Cancer.We ’re wearing sweaters a...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - February 5, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
National ChampionshipThis is the game for all the marblesEveryone tunes in and watches until the endThe victor gets every single marble Which must be carried out by hand.One player, the captain, the hero —take your pickIs selected to be the marble bearer.If he drops a single marble The laugh track kicks inBut it ’s an audio loop of walruses gigglingAnd no one knows what it means. The studio hosts, retired linebackersOr whatever, stuffed into designer suits,Act like they don ’t see itAnd go back to telestrating howTo make enormous piles of moneyWithout doing anything meaningful at all.No one seems...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 26, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
pom
NeologismI never thought the things I was interested inWould be interesting to anyone else.I never thought of who I was As just a singular iteration Of the same thing playing out On the inside of everybody else No I was differentAn impostor faking it untilI figured out what everyone elseAlready seemed to know.I never learned to danceOr whistle or give a proper wink If I think too much about what I want to sayBefore I say it, it comes out tremblingAnd the words run off to therapy. I ’m still more afraid of what I’ve doneThan the unknown that ’s surely comingIf someone says they ’r...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 26, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
NeologismI never thought the things I was interested inWould be interesting to anyone else.I never thought of who I was As just a singular iteration Of the same thing playing out On the inside of everybody else No I was differentAn impostor faking it untilI figured out what everyone elseAlready seemed to know.I never learned to danceOr whistle or give a proper wink.If I think too much about what I want to sayBefore I say it, it comes out tremblingAnd the words run off to therapy. I ’m still more afraid of what I’ve doneThan the unknown that ’s surely coming.If someone says they ’re pr...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 26, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
A Nice Game of ChessIt ’s a game of chess, life.We each get a square.You ’re my Queen.You can do anythingBut it ’s a lawless gamePlayed according to strict tradition So it doesn ’t even matter.You do whatever you likeAnd we say,them ’s the rules.Everyone feignsThey forget how to play —It ' s now two hands below the waist.Pieces are recognizable but different.Knights move in rococo Q ' s instead of L ’s.The bishops are huddled in conclaveIn the corners getting readyTo release a plume of black smoke.Kings pretend to be pawnsSo they don ’t get eaten.There is no nuance When all the worldIs eithe...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 23, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Sea Shelling We all went sea shellingBut under certain conditions:You could only leave the beachWith one shell.By the end of the sessionYou had to pick one.The rest returned to the shifting sands Of life ’s oaken hourglass.My son found theperfectshell,Better than anyone else,And don ’t anyone try to deny itWhile my daughter found oneWith an interesting etchingCarved on its white back Like an old woundFrom a survived attack.My wife couldn ’t choose.She loved them all.In the end she picked Without looking — a broken one Which she treasured and lovedUntil she was dead. I waded out i...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 16, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Small and InsecureI am small and insecureYet assert a certain feigned Savoir faire of the martyrDown to the last arrowIn his quiver Some of it is made of plasticJust touch me untilYou find the places I can ’t feel Some of it is made of wood.As I get closer to the endI ’ll use it for kindling.Some is iron But in all the wrong placesJust makes me feel heavyI sink, but faster As for more precious metals I like to think I gave it all awayBut no, it ’s still stashed thereIn the locked room where I never go The rest is fleshThe rest is bone1/16/24 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 16, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
True LoveDo we truly love only those Who perceive us as we wish to be seen?Is love at bottom a boundless narcissism?A nystagmic racketA wallet with secret compartmentsI bought after watching an adNarrated by a man with an English accent She sees me seeing her as the one who sees meAs I always wanted to beSeen. Seeing her as the one She always wanted to be seen beingBoth of us believing1/9/24 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 9, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
ConsentThere is a risk of bleedingA risk of infectionOf dyingAnything you say Can and will be usedAgainst you In the courtOf arbitrary opinionPlace your hand over your heartFace the sunTo which it standsOne nation under the influenceOf cynical fraudstersAnd half hearted huggers O ’er the ramparts we bumpedOur fists and agreedThat there are no guarantees hereThat everything could go horribly wrongWake up with whisksInstead of handsLeak bile when cutAnd shit bloodIn the morning Forget your nameAnd never miss itAmerica! America!God shat his graceOn theeFor this is your last chanceTo do something&nb...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 9, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Soccer Parent GlossaryIf you are on the pitch and you hear someone say “good try” it means that trying was the only redeemable aspect to whatever the f. it was you just did. You tried. Effort recognized. Congratulations. Everything else was crotch-rot terrible. If you hear “good idea” it means yeah that was a good idea I see what you were trying to do there b ut the execution was dogshit. Next time don’t botch it up like that. If you hear “good kick!” it means we’re all dealing with a moron over here on the sidelines. He played linebacker in high school. He thinks he’s being supportive. Sir, your so...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 7, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Briar PatchMemories hide in liquid spaces betweenAxons and dendrites like rabbitsResting in the tangles of a briar patch Sometimes they escape —Invasive snakes, wildfires in the distance And this becomes a frantic forgettingSome migrate to muscleWhere they can ride along Anonymously in arms and thighs Not doing a damn thing Until one day old suburban dad Tweaks a hammy and can ’t walk Right for a weekThen they start pulling their weight —Start flashing old scenesOf lost athleticism and vigor Some seek shelter in the liverOnly to be exposed By the solitary gin drinker...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 4, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Identity PropertyYou can add or subtract zeroMultiply or divide by oneWhere you end up Is just where you startedMath is still happeningBut nothing changesThe equals sign tells you soLife is a complicated equationWith manifold variablesRandom numbers and fractionsOn both sides of the calculationIt doesn ’t seem possible That one could reduce it allTo simplified equivalenceThat somehow through a seriesOf algebraic tricksOne can eventually solve for xTake the square root of the white trash boyThen extract the lowest common factorIntegrate both sides with respectTo everything he has ever lovedDivide by self, ...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - January 2, 2024 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
