To a Medical Student Dissecting My Cadaver

You’re sure to see me from some angle
I myself could never wangle,
And I can’t guess how much respect
It’s reasonable to expect
As all my scars and imperfections
Yield to your intimate inspections.
In your shoes, I might deride me
While I looked around inside me,
Eyeing the organs I abused
By what I didn’t use, or used.
So feel entitled to a joke
About the flesh you slice and poke.
Saving lives and easing pain
Are worthwhile skills you hope to gain
From what my innards can reveal.
If laughter aids that, no big deal.
I will be too deceased to mind
Your quips about what you might find.
Someday, your manner by the bed
Of any patient who’s not dead
Will feature sober empathy,
But cut yourself some slack with me.

Chris O'Carroll

Quantum Creed This is Chris O’Carroll's third collection, following The Joke’s on Me and Abracadabratude. Its title, the author explains, “refers to faith in Schrödinger’s God, who simultaneously exists and doesn’t.” The book opens with a selection of comic poems about the author’s cancer treatment, and gets even friskier from there, with lighthearted takes on the Covid-19 pandemic and the Trump years in U.S. politics. Anchored by these topical poems, which situate it at a specific historical moment, the book also ranges playfully across subjects from sex and drugs to Beatles songs and Shakespeare plays. It can be acquired from: https://bookshop.org/p/books/quantum-creed-chris-o-carroll/21595416?ean=9781948521154

If you have any thoughts about this poem or this publication,  Chris O'Carroll  would be pleased to hear them