a poem

It's not something that comes up in everyday conversation, but I really love poetry. I love how reading so few words can have such power, thanks to careful choices and strategic arrangement. I also write poems from time to time, but rarely share them with anybody other than Ian. However, I submitted a few to the William Carlos Williams (an amazing physician poet) poetry competition, and received honorable mention for one. I'm thrilled! And it gave me the extra bit of confidence I needed to share it online. I hope you like it.

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Fluid Crystals

“Why do we have membranes?”

asks my professor

who is a bit too cool for us

with his unnamable accent –

“Because life is compartmentalized.”

But I don’t want my life to be compartmentalized.

I want it to be fluid,

like the bilayer lipid membrane itself,

so that every component can translocate

and interact with the others.

So that holding the hand of my cadaver

triggers poetry,

rather than disgust

or detachment.

Because art and anatomy collide on the street,

each four-chambered heart pumping,

each brain full of memories

and twelve cranial nerves.

The winter trees are skeletons,

but they will reflesh themselves.