Mum
Searingly honest poem about a son’s changing relationship with his mother after she has a severe stroke
Art in Medicine
The role of portraiture within healing.
Finding the Pain
Insights from patient drawings bring the impact of clinical consultations to the fore
A Vision Gained
A multi-sensory re-evaluation of a grandmother’s visual ‘dis’ability
Precious
Fictionalized account of a tender relationship, Sita the life-long companion and carer of her frail husband
The Knot
An analysis of the impact of alcoholism and drug abuse upon the individual, their family and professionals involved
Let Go
A lyrical interpretation of patients’ feelings of being misunderstood and aching to be free
Use Your EQ not just your IQ
Rap based on the need to take an holistic approach during consultation
Desert Rose
An encounter with a young girl in Zimbabwe is pivotal in this poet’s choice of medicine as a career
A Note On Haiku
Imaginative, poetic presentations of medical conditions
Dead Meat
Expectations and practicalities in anatomy sessions jar against thoughts of a donor’s lived experience
Fragmented Identity
A stark portrayal of identity-construction post-stroke
Asthma
A lyrical interpretation of respiratory challenges
The Twilight Years
Poignant narrative about a widow’s first day as a resident in a care home
Things were rubbish until Josie came to love me
The pivotal role of dogs as companions for those living with disability
Crisis-Point
A home-visit to elderly man provides an unexpected chink of connection through spirituality
Mark
A wheel-chair user’s lived experience is ignored by her GP while a man-to-man chat ensues with her companion
Depression
A personal account of depression – family and peer response and stigma around revealing mental health issues
Feeble, Precarious, Existence
A doctor’s perspective whilst dying of heart disease – empty bed and candles
Climate Transformation and Health Deterioration
Global health and socio-emotional impact on already burdened communities.
Wave
Experimentation with vibrant colours, inspired by the ocean
Paint my Canvas
A student chooses to minutely absorb and process a deeply shared patient experience around terminal illness using poetry as method of learning from this privileged gift
An Excerpt From The Diary Of A Patient
Personal account of patient as undisclosed medic hearing her devastating diagnosis unwittingly revealed in clinical shorthand
The Constant Carer
An insight into caring within marriage
Doctors in the Movies
A humorous comparison between historical and contemporary models of consultation and home-visit
False Hope
The complexities of diagnosis and prognosis following a sudden bereavement
Distance
Poignant musings about the student’s younger sister and potentially diminishing bonds
Touch
A dying elderly man being comforted by his wife at his hospital bedside – discussion around withholding further medical intervention
Some Kind of Miracle
Narrative from the perspective of a child about her terminally-ill mother coming home from hospital for Xmas, then remaining in remission for several years
We Do Not Yet See Clearly But Hope is Gold
An evocative narrative, taking a universal approach to explore the role of hope within terminal illness
I Can Only Hope
The desire to maintain heart-felt life-values across time
Unpredictable
‘There will always be shadows on the land ..’ the dynamic balance between health and illness
My First Patient
Soldier confronted by desperate parents giving his water bottle to their child
The Truth
After visiting a children’s cancer-ward in Malaysia – the author speculates about ‘the gateway between life and death’
My Experience of the Dissection Room
A searingly honest account of a student’s attempts to make the transition from individuals to educational cadavers
Paranoia
Figures carrying ‘secret’ health issues
Life in the Glasshouse
A terminally ill patient bodily connected to various machinery processes being on the threshold between life and death
The Window to the Patient
A celebration of the uniqueness of each individual
Homonymous Hemianopia
Humorous poem about the impact of a stroke and the daily challenges of living with only seeing half of your immediate environment
Trapped
Prose from the viewpoint of young girl with her mother in consultation -unable to get word in edgewise
Disabled Mind
A teenager with a cleanliness phobia, perpetual hand-cleaning, turns inwards
Old Addicts
Poem about the precariousness of drug addiction