Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings April 2014, Volume 27, Number 2

“Almanac” (1) about a dancer absorbing a biopsy report gone wrong: How can this be Happening to me I did everything right. No doubt this is self-insight on Ostriker’s own publicly acknowledged skirmish with breast cancer, which is further addressed in her essay “Scenes from a Mastectomy” (7) and the collection “The Mastectomy Poems,” a section in a larger work called The Crack in Everything (8). These mastectomy poems emanate powerful images and compelling feelings and remind us of the indelible link between the human spirit, art, and medicine. One cannot help but empathize with Ostriker’s emotions shared in the following poetic excerpts: And you have already become a statistic, Citizen of a country where the air, Water, your estrogen, have just saluted Their target cells, planted their Judas kiss, Inside the Jerusalem of the breast (“The Bridge,” p. 85 [8]). What my husband sucked on For decades, so that I thought Myself safe, I thought love Protected the breast (“What Was Lost,” p. 90 [8]). Today I’m half a boy, Flat as something innocent, a clean Plate, just needing a story (“Wintering,” p. 93 [8]). These poems and their message mentor us. The poem we next untie is “The Ropes” by Kimberly Manning, a physician educator at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital. The synergy between the two poems and their authors gradually became evident to me as I considered how conclusively Manning tucked in her ending. Dr. Manning, herself only a bit beyond halfway to 70, is a popular and vibrant professor in our medical school. In her poem, she proposed to teach by showing her students the ropes. She got in her own zinger of a metaphor when she conquered a diagnostic challenge: Listen as I share with you stories of ropes I’ve seen The impossible ones that I unraveled When no one else could. Earlier in the poem she demonstrated appreciation for both patient and student of medicine: suddenly I freeze Realizing that I am the ropes. As a metaphor for learning, ropes are tied to history. In the nautical world, a sailor had to master many knots and understand which rope controlled what sail. Learning the ropes was crucial to survival on the high seas. So to learn the ropes of medicine, to teach the ropes of medicine, and to be the ropes is a connection all encompassing for this poet. She envisioned herself as “the ropes” in the same way she saw herself in her advisees and recognized the need to make sure they learn medicine in the best fashion possible. Ostrike r had her own thoughts on her role as an educator: “Teaching is extremely important to me; my students are important. I try my best to awaken them to the delight of using their minds” (5). In the same manner that Ostriker is characterized as a “most ﬁercely honest” poet, while listening to Manning lecture at grand rounds I see that same spirit. I marvel at her delivery as she revels in her womanness, her motherness, her AfricanAmericanness, her medicalness, her sense of selfness. She wears all this this-ness on her white coat like an autobiography sewn on her sleeve, a sartorial accoutrement for all to witness and for her students to emulate. This is poetry at its best by kindred poets, using their verse to teach and mentor. Acknowledgment The author thanks Dean Dianakos, MD, Karen A. Stolley, PhD, Michael Lubin, MD, and Stacia Brown, PhD, who reviewed this manuscript. 1. Hands pressing into carefully exposed ﬂesh Mine ﬁrst, then yours Both of us smiling at the person To whom what is being palpated belongs Appreciative for this teachable moment Whilst remembering who provided it. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. There is a pleasing possessive complexity engendered by Manning’s description of the anatomy being palpated. For just that teachable moment, it is as if the patient bestows to the student joint ownership of the palpated part for all to appreciate. 162 The author shared with me this sentiment regarding “The Ropes”: “I wrote this poem after reﬂecting on how powerful role modeling is in medical education. The more I think about it, the more I recognize that the best thing I can do as an educator is to be intentional as a role model and a responsible steward of my inﬂuence. I ‘see myself ’ in my advisees all the time. This is both terrifying and gratifying” (personal communication, March 4, 2013). Above all this poem is about mentoring—though mentoring of a kinder and gentler nature than the blunt mentoring of “The Surgeon.” Manning is simultaneously learning the ropes and teaching the ropes, functioning exquisitely as her own automentor. Let her say it in an ending that “tucks it in” tighter than any knot any sailor ever tied: 7. 8. Ostriker AS. The surgeon. In The Book of Seventy. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009. Manning KD. The ropes. Ann Intern Med 2012;156(5):398. Ostriker AS. The surgeon. Acad Med 2011;86(6):724. Gianakos D. Commentary. Acad Med 2011;86(6):725. Poetry Foundation. Alicia Ostriker. Available at http://www.poetryfoundation. org/bio/alicia-ostriker. Wendt I. Alicia Ostriker and Marilyn Krysl: Review. Valparaiso Poetry Review 2011;12(2). Available at http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/v12n2/v12n2prose/wendtreviewostrikerkrysl.php. Ostriker A. Scenes from a mastectomy. Acad Med 2007;82(12):1196–1197. Ostriker A. The mastectomy poems. In The Crack in Everything. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996:83–99. Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings Volume 27, Number 2

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