Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s -70s, I was exposed to the world of Modern Dance and Ballet. I was fortunate enough to study with many talented and supportive teachers who encouraged my participation and growth as a dancer. I pursued both dancing and the study of medicine in my 20s and had many opportunities to tour and perform while preparing for a future career in medicine. I continued dancing into my early 50s but developed increasing problems with spinal stenosis that ended this phase of my life. This poem is written as a memory of lost love and nostalgia for the passion of my youth.
i. Prelude
Delicate gloved fingers
separate herniated disc
from my spinal cord
with meticulous grace,
a supple dancer’s back
tattooed with indelible pain,
lyrical verses of freedom
filleted by the surgeon,
Amidst anesthetic dreams
scintillating sparks explode,
fireworks surround me
in utter confusion.
ii. Adagio
Legs left to ponder footsteps
one by one down corridors
attached insect-like to a walker,
left to build a new trust
feeling the ground with gratitude
feet mourn for plies of the past
for toes sensually stroking the floor
for epaulement, the bravado of youth
uplifted chin and haughty finger
held aloft from bended knee
left on a dusty cluttered shelf,
Spoken as an elegy of metal and bone,
joined in a slow duet through light
diffused in the slanting shadows.
James Dunstan, MD
Jyoti Rau MD, PhD
William (Bill) Hunter, MD
J. Richard Gaskill
Peggy Latare
Quentin Eichbaum, MD, PhD, MPH, MFA, FCAP
Kenneth Gould, MD
David Godley, MD
Cindy Lopez, RN
Joanie Aasen, MSN, RN
Manfred Hauben, MD, MPH
Cook’s Meadow Early Morning Yosemite National Park
Jorge A Ramirez, MD
David True, MD
Crash Cesarean: Poetry in Motion
Shane Geffe
Louise Glaser, MD, FAAP
David True, MD
Samuel K Williams, III, MD, CPG
Quentin Eichbaum, MD, PhD, MPH, MFA, FCAP
Jennifer Phillips, MD
Imanni Sheppard, PhD
Usha Tatini, MD
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Mara Saulitis, MD
Abdalla Mallouk, MD
Abdalla Mallouk, MD
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Talha H Imam, MD
Pamela Lemke, CNM, MS
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Ghosts of the Northern Plains: Outbuildings
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Maranda Herner
Heritage Irises at Filoli Gardens
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Abdalla Mallouk, MD
Hope—Redwood National Forest, California
Sapna Reddy, MD
Paul Rousseau, MD
Jo Paluzzi, PhD
Shenshen Dou
David True, MD
Shenshen Dou
Shenshen Dou
Shenshen Dou
David Clarke, MD
Mount Ansel Adams and Lyell Ford of the Merced River, Yosemite National Park
J. Richard Gaskill
Quentin Eichbaum, MD, PhD, MPH, MFA, FCAP
Ariel Scott, MD
Gail Wright, MD
Pistils and Stamens with Shades of Lavender
Michael House, LCSW
Imanni Sheppard, PhD
Gail Wright, MD
Kenneth Gould, MD
Quentin Eichbaum, MD, PhD, MPH, MFA, FCAP
James Dunstan, MD
Manfred Hauben, MD, MPH
Mihal Emberton, MD, MPH, MS
Kevin Dueck MD MSc
Brad Christian McDowell, MD, FACS
Kelly Chen
Sunset at Yellowstone National Park
Jorge A Ramirez, MD
Sunset in Taos: Simple, Serene, Stunning
Usha Tatini, MD
Rebecca Chasnovitz, MD
Taos Mountain Over High Grass Meadow
Usha Tatini, MD
Shenshen Dou
Usha Tatini, MD
The Bells of San Juan Capistrano Mission
Ira J Levy, MD
Jyoti Rau MD, PhD
Megan Bostic
The Hanging Gardens of Suburbia
Belinda Torres Mary, MHS, MFA, MLS
William Lynes, MD
Andy Runkle, MD
Alana Castens Yalom
The Professor of Medicine Demonstrates …
Ron Louie, MD
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Margaret Fortsch, RN
Belinda Torres Mary, MHS, MFA, MLS
Deborah Chiarucci, MD
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Louise Glaser, MD, FAAP
Usha Tatini, MD