© Steven Zhou, MS3
Patient
I sit
in the harsh lights of the waiting room
It’s 1:43 p.m.
My boss will be mad
I’ve been gone too long
I missed lunch
I stare at the clock
I think about
my wife
As I kissed her goodbye
this morning
My son
I dropped off at
School
My brother who I haven’t spoken to in months
I want to know the results of my test
I’m nervous
My foot starts tapping
The doc walks in with the charts
Cancer
I sigh. I don’t know what to do
Doctor
I sit
in my cluttered office
It’s 1:43 p.m.
The nurse keeps buzzing
I haven’t made it through this morning’s appointments
I missed lunch
I close my eyes
I think about
The lady with diabetes
I saw
this morning
The young boy
Who needed an excused absence from
School
The young man who missed his appointment
I pull up my next patient’s chart
His test results are in
I start tapping my pen
I walk into the patient’s room
It’s a tumor
I sigh. I don’t know what to do
Judges Comments:
This poem is stunning, both for the simplicity of its form and the complexity of its insight. With parallel structure and selective repetition, the author suggests how the experiences of patients and doctors can be at the same time starkly different and exactly the same. Both missed lunch, both have their minds on other things, both are dreading the encounter, and, in the end, both are left with similar feelings of helplessness in the face of a tough diagnosis. The poem speaks to the connections between doctors and patients even at a moment—the moment of diagnosis—that seems to place them at opposite ends of a spectrum.