Meditations on Medicine
A collection of poems entitled “Meditations on Medicine.”
Art & Poetry in Medicine
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
University Hospital of Krakow, Poland
Adrian Poniatowski is native New Yorker and a physician poet. He studied history at Cornell University before going on to finish medical school in Poland at Jagiellonian University. He received an appointment to stay on at his alma mater as Lecturer in Pathophysiology, in addition to his duties as an intern physician at the University Hospital of Krakow, Poland. He draws inspiration from his Catholic faith and long walks spent meditating on the sublime beauty of daily life. His artistic motto is Ars neptis Dei, a paraphrase from the
Divine Comedy proclaiming that “Art is the granddaughter of God.”
The Applause
When the COVID-19 alarms were raised, I got ready for battle against the virus the world was fighting, only to later feel cut off from “the cause” as my efforts to volunteer outside of my daily work were denied time and again. Some might call it luck, but for me, it felt isolating.
Meditations on Family
A collection of poems entitled “Meditations on Family.”
Meditations on God
A collection of poems entitled “Meditations on God.”
“PGY3”: How I Coped in the Medical ICU by Making Music
Listen to the track “PGY3” by Dr. Roy Souaid and his band “John Lebanon.” The song started in New Orleans during the American College of Physicians National Conference in May 2018 and has been a yearlong project inspired by street buskers, hospital sounds and jazz. It captures the medical resident’s work flow and is set in the medical intensive care unit at the Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.
Leaving My Heart at the Door
At first, my heart pauses: frozen from shock. / But, within a few seconds, I start to take stock.
The Telling
I recall my father sitting on a small stool in the kitchen / dialing friends and family, one by one, rippling outward
No Insurance
my patient does not have insurance / he asks me to address his concerns
Healing in Relationship Lies
Illness lies hidden in our ways / Influenced by the unconscious gaze.
T-Cell
“One” / It read. / Unassuming in black and white
A Second Home (2019)
Scared and frightened, we came in as interns / We had the knowledge, but we needed direction
I Seize
I seize. / With emotion, not motor.
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Originally from the Midwest (think cornfields and windy city), I currently reside in Baltimore (where it’s mostly oysters, Old Bay, and rain) and where I am a third year resident in Neurology at Johns Hopkins. I was a liberal studies major in college at Purdue, where my interests took me from philosophy to physics, and ancient civilizations to the arts. Now as I approach the end of my penultimate year in residency, I often reflect on the long journey that has brought me to where I am, much of which comes from experiences and patients that have influenced me. My interests include travel, hiking, the French language, landscape painting, gardening, and dabbling in the culinary arts, both with cooking and trying new restaurants and eclectic cuisines. I look forward to my final year of training and am excited to be moving out west for my upcoming fellowship in Headache Medicine at the University of Colorado.