thirdspace

Heart Sounds

by Danielle Aronowitz

Love may be loud, but
A broken heart will whisper
The faintest murmur.

Lovesick

by Marianne Armanious

Can't we all be like
Cardiomyopathy
Large, overused, hearts

At the Bedside

by Peter K. Olds, MD

In long winter light,
Breathless, silent. Neck shadows
Flutter: JVP.

Nude Male with Echo

by Darren C. Demaree

If my knuckles
were still in their original
alignment, a row slowly
cresting in the middle

Limited Mobility

by Rebecca Lee

Life is stenotic.
Creeping through narrow hallways, wondering what opportunities exist behind closed doors,
I think about the life of an optical illusion.

Soliloquy in Blue

by Mina Le

Those hands of yours can forge new life
by carving organs from their old constraints
and grafting them in those whose own
have failed. I've seen your hands take up a knife

Jackson Hall

by Mina Le

Forgive us, sir, if in the course of carving
Your cheeks and neck and eyelids we forget
That here's a tongue that's permanently starving,
And here are eyes that closed with great regret;

The Bosom-Serpent

by C. R. Resetarits

I note your ease
at blind man’s bluff
arm-length away
beyond the touch

Excerpt from: I carry these birds in my hands

by Laurie Rosenblatt, MD

This myth speaks to strays
Love seems more acute
at the brink when just moments
ago we were whole

Full Disclosure

by Ross Neisuler, MD

You need to know –
that behind that white lab coat and stethoscope
behind that warm and caring smile
which seems engaged and engaging

Nightswimmers

by Rajani LaRocca, MD

Night, a hush falls in the ICU
A lullaby of humming fluorescents, beeping monitors
Nurses move with economy
Doctors on a brief hiatus from rounding

Hear tell of mathematical models to predict animal behavior:
sanguine slaughters cyclic like simple harmonic motion;
altruistic self-sacrifices when b exceeds c;
lichen, june bugs, nematodes, vertebrates,