poem
Invisible FriendIt ’s ok to have an invisible friend Even if he ’s your only friend He exists as long as youContinue to be someoneWho can be seenIt ’s ok to talk to yourselfSo long as you don ’t shout.And make like a ventriloquist —Only the most anally observant Of us can see your lips moving.It ’s ok to wake up early Just to commune with alone But don ' t mistake the silenceFor your oldest friend Pausing before he tells youThe answer to the questionYou ’re afraid to ask anyone else10/3/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - October 3, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
ZeroZero is ridiculous, shouldn ’t existIf we skipped right over itIt would never be missed.Add it or take it awayIt ’s always the same sumNo difference.Any temptation to multiplyLeads to fascist annihilationAnd no one bothersTrying to divide.We all have enough Undefined as it is.So what is it?Why do we need it?Zilch nil noughtAs if a name could addSomething to nothingLike the way we referTo the intractable silence Of the universe asGodOr a moment of self forgettingAs an act of love.Look at all these leading Zeroes before the decimalPoint of your actual life. What happens when I ’m gone?Will...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - October 3, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
BirdA bird got into the houseDon ’t ask me what kindCall it a wrenIt was my fault. Left the sliding glassDoor open while the dog pissedNow it flutters around fromRoom to room presumablyGetting hungrier and hungrier By the hour It ’s an omenOf big changeEither you ' re falling in loveOr someone is about to die I ’ve combed the house Looking for the starling.Someone is runningOut of time10/3/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - October 3, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
New TheologyIn the new theology faith is simply an acceptance of the world as it is. Nothing more than that. No complex creeds to wrestle with. No painful initiation rites. God doesn ’t play a role in our system. And truth is something only rarely stumbled upon. So one must nevertheless exercise discernment and prudence at all times. Take the emotion out of it, wring it out, hang it out to dry in the warm summer wind, then put it crinkled and damp back in. Many people hear abo ut our teachings and say it trivializes faith, as if it were easy. The sky is blue. That boy is my son. But they’re wrong. The ancient rel...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - October 3, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Silence of the WorldThe silence of the worldHas been winding throughMe fifty forlorn yearsIt senses it ’s halfway home.Midnight to the dark side of the moonA book half read in an empty roomI hope its passage has been okayNot dull or dispiritingThat I haven ’t wasted its timeWhen I make myself quietI can hear it pushing chairsAnd tables up against the walls As if it were clearing spaceFor a ceremony that starts After everyone has gone to bed I make myself wideOpen the windows and doorsThen get out of the way9/28/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 28, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
DulledI need an old scalpel too dull for cuttingDrag it across my skin so I know what it ’s likeNothing hurts and nothing bleedsIt leaves a long white blanchingI ’m careful not to press too hardJust knowing what ’s possible is enoughI ask the scrub tech nowTo pass me a fresh blade 9/25/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 25, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Bulletin BoardA flock of birds high up Make the sky look perforatedLike a bulletin boardWith the tacks all removedWhite clouds hang like blank sheetsOf paper announcing nothing at allWe lay on our backs gazing upWaiting for written instructions 9/24/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Poem #48Poetry is a pointing toward something both inarticulable and fleeting. Yes there are words, which is beside the point, but it ’s the best we can do. The actual words for describing it are unknown. All we can do is gesture. Prose, to its credit, also involves pointing. But we also learn about the finger. Why it’s crooked. Who it belongs to. How they arrived here. Where they came from. What they’ve been looking for. Wh y they feel the need to point at all. It gets deeper and more ornate. The backstory behind these particular high heeled shoes. How he made his fortune and then lost it all. A love sto...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
River SplitIt ’s best to think of thisAs the river that splits.What was one, is now two Keep it a secretNo one will ever know It ’s always the same riverRiver is just a wordThat describes water fallingWhile everything else is standing stillRiver by nature takes the route Of least resistance,Often mistaken for a lazy winding But it feels like a ride A simile for time A metaphor for everything you ever missedSometimes you ’re drifting forwardSometimes it seems the shore is lapsing awayWhile you ’re frozen in place Either way it takes youTo the end of your lifeAnd then it keeps...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Morning CommuteDriving in to work on the highwayA split-second vision of a flat stoneFrisbeeing from the rear tireOf the oblivious car in front of me,Its surface a shiny mosaicOf onyx black and reptilian greenLike the scutes of a turtle shellWhacking against my chassis And then the sparrow scutteringOut of the way just in timeAs I veered down the off rampTo a brief stop at a red light Where bees were swarming in the swale Around lilacs lazing in the late summer breezeDizzy in the drunkenness of third bloomAnd then, just ahead, passingPenitential geraniums slowly browningIn stone-cosseted flower bedsEmb...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
The role of income in medical school acceptance
It was during my general surgery rotation that I had an encounter with a urologist attending while waiting for pending surgery to occur. As we made small talk about the medical field, our conversation gravitated toward the topic of medical school admissions. The attending shared their opinion on the pressing issue of diversity among medical
Read more…
The role of income in medical school acceptance originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 18, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors: Carter Do Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
poem
Divorce II like when the sun and the moonShare the same ambered sky In the hour before night My favorite Tom and Jerry cartoonsAre the ones where cat and mouseAre friends not foes.But mom and dadAt the same eventIn the same room?I ’m two boys in one bodyFiddling with four handsEyes so wide it hurts.What I became in the dayDiffered from the man of the night.They had to take turns.Before the split, most trenchantlyOn nights of vicious fighting,I was still one boyListening to the moonWhisper its secrets To a fading sun 9/16/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 16, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
JeffEvery word has a meaningSome words have many meaningsAnd some meanings belong to many wordsHowever, the meanings we still care aboutAre out all night, searching for datesThere are four Jeffs in my fantasy football groupEach Jeff signifies something uniqueNobody ever says the word JeffWe call each other by our last namesWhen we gather, the word Jeff is meaninglessJeff is now the 2394th most popular nameChosen by new American parents for their babiesSomeday the word Jeff will replace the word HerbertIn the dictionary of lost languages Its entry will read: old and musty and mostly deadOne by one there will be n...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 12, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
TheodicyLet ’s say God is the space between two lovers and the devil is the time it takes for them to travel the distance. Angels bring fleeting moments of self forgetting. Wily demons whisper in your ear, convince you for the millionth time that the whole world can only be understood from the perspective of your own particular self. Prayer is the GPS app that tells you when you can expect to arrive. There are no words to recite. You just follow the green lines with your eyes, three times. Your lips are moving because you’re shivering. Everything skinny lines and yellow or blue. A hex is the twelve ca r pile up o...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 12, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
BeesMy son is afraid of bees. By “bees” I mean any flying insect that stings. Anything airborne elicits a flurry of flinchings and broken field dashes for shelter. I’ve watched him zig zag away from what turned out to be a small bird. He swears he hears a pervasive sub-audible buzzing. It ’s gotten so bad he doesn’t even like flowers. People who don’t know him come to think he’s afraid of flowers but it’s not the flowers. I’m worried the same logic will compel him to fear the sun. He already has an uneasy relationship with summer. Daytime dread, agoraphobic hermit. Locked in a room shadowed in...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 12, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
