- Email: [email protected]
First Cadaver
CHEST
Pectoriloquy
Editor’s Note: The author writes: “Since my retirement from the Medical College of Wisconsin (Professor of Radiology), I have been studying poetry. I have strong positive thoughts about my medical education and often include these thoughts in my writing.”
First Cadaver We stared in awe after each slice of the scalpel parted etiolated tissues Further incisions unveiled strange landscapes and territories as we cast aside the physical in search of the gateway out of Erebus The dissector labored on Triumphantly holding up each organ for display as if they were prizes for winning a contest At the last incision, we half expected to see traces of a soul lift out of the formaldehyde fumes We were novitiates in a temple constructing a prayer out of chaos thinking to move closer to God as we destroyed the body before us. Elliot O. Lipchik Milwaukee, WI
Editor’s note for authors of submissions to Pectoriloquy: Poems should not exceed 350 words, should not have been previously published, and should be related to concerns of physicians and medicine. First submissions to the Pectoriloquy Section should be submitted via e-mail to [email protected]. Authors of accepted poems will be asked to submit the final version to CHEST Manuscript Central. —Michael Zack, MD, FCCP © 2012 American College of Chest Physicians. Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (http://www.chestpubs.org/site/misc/reprints.xhtml). DOI: 10.1378/chest.11-1716 www.chestpubs.org
CHEST / 141 / 5 / MAY, 2012
Downloaded from chestjournal.chestpubs.org by Kimberly Henricks on May 3, 2012 © 2012 American College of Chest Physicians
1357
Pectoriloquy
Editor’s Note: The author writes: “Since my retirement from the Medical College of Wisconsin (Professor of Radiology), I have been studying poetry. I have strong positive thoughts about my medical education and often include these thoughts in my writing.”
First Cadaver We stared in awe after each slice of the scalpel parted etiolated tissues Further incisions unveiled strange landscapes and territories as we cast aside the physical in search of the gateway out of Erebus The dissector labored on Triumphantly holding up each organ for display as if they were prizes for winning a contest At the last incision, we half expected to see traces of a soul lift out of the formaldehyde fumes We were novitiates in a temple constructing a prayer out of chaos thinking to move closer to God as we destroyed the body before us. Elliot O. Lipchik Milwaukee, WI
Editor’s note for authors of submissions to Pectoriloquy: Poems should not exceed 350 words, should not have been previously published, and should be related to concerns of physicians and medicine. First submissions to the Pectoriloquy Section should be submitted via e-mail to [email protected]. Authors of accepted poems will be asked to submit the final version to CHEST Manuscript Central. —Michael Zack, MD, FCCP © 2012 American College of Chest Physicians. Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (http://www.chestpubs.org/site/misc/reprints.xhtml). DOI: 10.1378/chest.11-1716 www.chestpubs.org
CHEST / 141 / 5 / MAY, 2012
Downloaded from chestjournal.chestpubs.org by Kimberly Henricks on May 3, 2012 © 2012 American College of Chest Physicians
1357