"My Heartbeat Syncs" by Ellen Zhang

My Heartbeat Syncs

with monitors
      high-pitched
         like a memory of sirens
     sounds drowning my
   counting of sheep
needle slides through
          skin vein artery
                   tightening fingers to
                digging nails almost
         drawing blood
withhold filching
   or tears or moans
     or discomfort
       the best I can do
         my breath sharpens
            pain coming before
               even treatment or cure
                  I grip onto consciousness
                     am I getting better?
             healing?
a good patient?
making you proud?

Ellen Zhang

Ellen Zhang is a student at Harvard Medical School, who has studied under Pulitzer-Prize-winner Jorie Graham, poet Rosebud Ben-Oni, and poet Josh Bell. She has been recognized by the 2022 DeBakey Poetry Prize, 2022 Dibase Poetry Contest, and as 2019 National Student Poet Semifinalist. Her works appear or are forthcoming in Southward Literary Journal, Rappahannock Review, COUNTERCLOCK Journal, and elsewhere.

Headshot: Fang Cao

Photo Credit: Staff