Wake
Did you know, when I called 911, I was put on hold.
Crossed Wires
“But I’ve never had this happen before.”
Running His Mouth
I’m trapped in the room—twenty-minute visit turning to sixty.
Hospice
Driving in the dark to a South Jordan funeral home.
Mrs. T
“I don’t feel worth a damn.”
Mangled Hand
Kneeling at your bedside, I see your mangled hand.
Palpable Fine Needle Aspiration, Left Thigh, Huntsman Clinic 2C
I apologize for the needle’s sting, jabbing in quick fine motions beneath your skin.
Full-time Job
Trademark stickers, grigri, and plushie keychains adorn her walker.
Laundry
The call comes in, they’re at it again
Safety Symbiosis
At the workplace
Nursery (After Jack Gilbert)
It’s no one’s idea of fun to watch a drug-addict father
Volume 1 | 2020 Voices from the Faculty
Table of contents
Arriving at the Terminal
With resolute momentum the Southbound train passes.
No Matter How Late
(5PM) Going to the OR later. Don’t know when I’ll be home.
Physician Work Room at Clinic
Logged onto work station, typing commences…
White Girl Can’t Jump:
or,My husband feels betrayed that I was a fan whenStockton & Malone were in the finals but it turns outthat I don’t watch basketball Building rapport before heading to the OR. “So,are you one of our Utah athletes?” His mother’s indignant. “He plays for the Jazz!” He’s really famous. My bad.
In Process
Wake up.Turn o! white noise app.Count on fingers the hours I slept.Open up email. Delete.Open up NY Times app.Swing legs over edge of bed.In slippered feet turn on co!ee.Open NPR, BBC, Instagram.Sip then slurp black co!ee.“I’m not doing enough.”My panic rises.“But am I enough?”
Metabolism
The course did not go well.
What I’ve seen?
Heroin, sometimes meth. Homelessness, criminality, dishonesty. Hopeless?
Peanut M&Ms
I successfully extracted the peanut M&M from his 4-year-old nose.
Advanced Maternal Age
“Happy Birthday!” All I can think is, “great, now I’m advanced maternal age.”
Joy
Standing unobtrusively in the corner of the hospital room, giving the student-team as much space as possible to round with the family.
It Could Be Me
A colleague asks me to see her cousin. I know him.
Everything old is new again and vice versa
An Index: somebody, somewhere susceptive and exposed, infected and incubating.
Wish
You yelled and belittled my intern.