Words don’t simply flow out now
My vocabulary infiltrated by medical jargon
Have I found my path or lost direction
For my poetic thoughts have gone astray in the midst of God’s “greatest creation”
I look back on those days, left behind
When the joys of life weren’t so binding
Like the pituitary hanging by its stalk
My patience, frail, slowly wears off
I guess doctors too can have writer’s block
I have seen my time fly by, never stopping
The pen I once held, replaced by a stethoscope
My canvas, once blank, has emotions of its own
Well, at least I’m still writing poetry
Even if it’s only by healing another soul
2026 National Hospitalist Day HM Voices Contest Winner
Dr. Kacheria
Dr. Kacheria is a PGY-2 in the Abrazo Health internal medicine residency program in Glendale, Ariz.