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Poetry and Medicine
September 24, 2019

Chairside Fantasy

Author Affiliations
  • 1New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York
JAMA. 2019;322(12):1216. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.7442

She wore lipstick to dialysis—
a pop of coral unexpected amidst the
muted blues and grays of shirt and blanket,
where, pumping in its plastic veins,
the blood looks almost brown.

A teacher in a former life,
she always questioned things—
the pills, the extra fluid we desired
to squeeze out of her body, as if the quizzing
brought a relief to her.

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