A physician grapples with the tyranny of “normalcy” and how its unbending dictates can stifle the clinical encounter as well as patient care.
Read moreDescribing Cancer with Imagery and Metaphors by Sarah Smith, MD
A family physician considers the importance of metaphors and imagery when grappling with life-threatening, unimaginable illness.
Read moreWhen Visuals Become Verbal: The Art of Communicating Emotional States of Mind by Barbara West
© Blue Pajama Series - Crowd by Rachel Wyman Fall 2021 Intima
A writer and hospice nurse explores the parallels between one of her essays published in Intima and a studio art series previously published in this journal.
Read moreThe Importance of Touch in Medicine (and Beyond) by neonatologist Katherine C. White
A retired neonatologist recalls her time in the NICU when the specter of HIV loomed large—and laments the precautions against touch that have returned with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read moreOn "Where Are You, Mary Oliver?" A pediatric ER doctor contemplates what two poets taught her about healing
A pediatric emergency physician reflects on the enduring power and comfort of Mary Oliver’s poetry during difficult times.
Read moreThe Luxury of Walking Away: An MS4 meditates on time, isolation and the comforts of home
A medical student contemplates her roles as a physician-in-training and learns to appreciate the privilege she possesses—unlike her patients—in walking away from the clinical space.
Read moreWhere do you turn for comfort? A reflection on Popsicles, Tater Tots and hospital gift shops by internist Ben Goldenberg
“Sometimes the job we do isn’t about fixing what’s wrong but rather helping each other survive within the confines of our brokenness.” Artwork: The Art of Being Here by Kirilee West Spring 2022 Intima
Read moreSurprising Behavior in the Pandemic
A palliative care nurse analyzes poetry and studio art created in response to the ongoing pandemic—and appreciates how these different pieces generate surprising parallels.
Read moreOn Imagined Boundaries: A reflection on "the body as a narrative instrument" by Tony Errichetti
A medical educator reflects on studio art recently published in the Intima and examines the boundaries—real or imagined?—often constructed between mind and body.
Read moreWaiting: A reflection on anticipating a diagnosis by poet RN Amy Haddad
A nurse, poet, and educator ponders the lot of patients—one that often includes loss of identity, dislocation in time and space, and of course, waiting.
Read morePoems Help Us Deal with Change and Choice by Anne Corey
A writer advocates for the power of poetry—as well as its curious ability to make us better accept uncertainty, mystery, and even ourselves.
Read moreThe Sincerity of A Great Story: A Reflection on “A Life” by Judith Hannah Weiss
A writer analyzes a piece of fiction published in this journal—and comes to discover the power contained within each line of writing.
Read moreSavoring Sunset: A reflection on saying goodbye by physician assistant Sara Lynne Wright
A physician assistant ruminates about the cycle of life, of sunrise and sunset—and how we can better appreciate each waking moment.
Read moreA Sound Mind in a Sound Body, a reflection by poet Anastasia Vassos
© Pillar of Light by Jacqueline Pflaum-Carlson. Spring 2022 Intima
A writer and poet finds inspiration in the body’s architecture and corporeal underpinnings.
Read moreThe Gifts Reserved for Age: A Reflection by Richard Scott Morehead
A professor of medicine reminisces about his former student, whose work appears alongside his own in this very journal.
Read morePoets on Poets: A Look Back and Forward by Ellen Goldsmith
A poet reflects on what companion poets and their poetry can offer us in the face of unexpected illness and loss.
Read moreThe Role of the Medical Television Drama in Cinemeducation
What is the purpose of the now-ubiquitous medical television drama in the age of pandemics? And whose voice does it center: the physician’s or the patient’s?
Read moreOn Witnessing Another’s Pain—Or Is It Our Own?
When one exists in close proximity to the pain of another, whose testimony is it? A scholar reflects on the shared experience that can result from suffering.
Read moreThe Body in Bloom: Thoughts on Two Artworks by Simona Carini
(c) Floral Anatomy by Kristen Kelly. FALL 2018 Intima
As a writer, to give life to a story, I reach for my pen and notebook, craft words into images, lines, sentences. I find it inspiring to explore how other artists use their preferred media to tell stories. In my poem “Young Woman Listens to Cyndi Lauper During Dialysis” (Spring 2021 Intima), I open a window into an experience of eating disorder. In contrast, two artists in the Fall 2018 Intima show us how our body can be seen as a garden of elegant shapes and rich colors.
Read moreAuscultating Meaning: Reflections on the Heart of Medicine by Marc Perlman
© Gordian Knot by Elisabeth Preston-Hsu Spring 2020 Intima A Journal of Narrative Medicine
From diaphragm to earpiece, a stethoscope dutifully chaperones a patient’s internal orchestra to a clinician’s ears. This facile acoustic communication not only allows a provider to screen for a wide host of cardiovascular, pulmonary and gastrointestinal anomalies, but it also may be a conduit for moral reflection.
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