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
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
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
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
poem
Birds of TwilightEvening birds convene in old trees, plotting crimes.In the twilight I can never actually see them,Squawking up there behind bruised leaves,Only their coming and going.All we ever know are voices.Mom and dad fighting late at night I never understood a wordA language beyond my graspI didn ’t even want to see the letters they usedHuddled on the last step of the staircaseListening, beyond the clutch of their living room light The scariest time is just after duskWhen the birds go silent.You can ’t tell what they’re up toIf they ’re even still there. Torn between an urge to keep quie...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - June 22, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Satellite RadioI listen to the satellite radio in the car, I confessCan ’t stand commercials The only problem is that the signal sometimesJust goes out. Those binary bits of songs riding along on quantum waves Apparently need, at all times, a clean and unobstructed pathOccasionally it happens driving through a tunnelOr waiting to pay to exit a parking garage.The station flatlines and everything goes silentIt always comes back but still …I never get back the best partsOf the song I ’ve missed Which hardly seems fair, given the costs.Sometimes the signal goes outSeveral minutes after I ’ve unroof...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - June 18, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
The SecretThe secret to a good life is very difficult To convey in a conventional mannerOne way of practicingIs to try to learn to recognizeThat you are in a dreamWithout waking up To be able to say: This is a dreamWhile remaining steadfastly engagedAs a participant in thisProjection of your own mindThus, in some ways you are sleepingQuite soundly while in othersYou are fully engrossed and aliveIf you can master this very difficultAnd esoteric skill, many thingsWill start to fall into placeYou will begin to understand thatSomeone is always sleeping and Someone is always awakeEvery dream remembered beco...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - June 18, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Taylor SwiftAt the Taylor Swift show in PittsburghMost of the restrooms were reserved femaleWhen I finally found a men ’s roomIt was near empty and very cleanAs I pissed a pleasant tropical fragrance Wafted around me in heady swirls.It struck me the pains we take to mitigateThe foul, the ugly, the reeking, the distastefulMy own piss, via complex chemical reactionsWith the lime green slab at the baseWas creating a Costa Rican faunaOf sweet citrusy florality It ’s just piss, I thoughtIt ’s just me and my own pissI didn ’t need this Funeral home perfumes, deodorants and antiperspirantsThe way we d...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - June 18, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
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Father ' s DayLooking through old pictures of my sonHe looks sullen and snide, lip curled,Eyes squinted like he ’s aiming a dartAt everyone ’s invisible bullseyeLook at that little assholePeople would saySomeone needs to wipe That smirk off his faceBut I know the truth:His little world riven in half,Mom and dad nightly fightingAlways at one another ’s throatsSo we had to get our shit together,Mom and dad, even the boy himself.Now when he cracks a smile In pictures he means itAnd so the cycle goes onBoys grow into menSons become dads makingAnd breaking such fragile delicaciesAlong the way.Each little f...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - June 18, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
VerandaThe renowned poet sat on the veranda with his wife, entertaining another couple they ’d known for years. He was in fine form this particular evening. Funny and humble.Careful not to dominate or overwhelm. A presence like the moon. The air was respectfully elegiac and, as long as the breeze kept its wits, not too chilly. His wife had just refilled his gin. Suddenly one came to him. He put down his glass. And then, with an abruptness that might strike the uninitiated as rude, he rose and quickly dashed into his study and proceeded to spend the next 25 minutes getting down what he could. Enough to make somethin...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - June 7, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
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Write What You KnowAnytime you ' re stuck or sounding derivative that ’s what they always say. Write what you know. For the longest time I ignored it. Deluded by the arrogance of the overlooked. For fruitless years I wrote about rivers even though I’m clueless. Landlocked and sea sick. I hate to fish. All my rivers just wind and shimmer, wind and shimmer. They bec ome chlorinated lazy rivers lily padded with sunburnt bodies wafting along in blow up rafts. Meanwhile I ' m just using them to skip a stone to the other side. Do you know how long it takes to really know if you know anything? I know a little bit, I ' l...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - June 6, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
NamingYou ’re not lostYou ’re right hereLook — your stack of unread booksYour pile of old scrubsIf you feel lostIt ’s usually just becauseYou ’ve haven’t the wordsTo describe where you are The act of naming Is always orientingAdam was granted this powerSo he would know he ' d left the Garden of EdenYou don ’t have to force Old tongues on new worldsTake a deep breath And let your tongue twist the airMake a list Of all your neologismsConstruct a grammarAnd a world emerges you can map In old growth forestsThe trees and mossesAlready know what to call you 5/25/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - May 25, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
