April 25, 2020
Humanity a zoo
Caged at home
The animals dance
Free to roam
Jenelle Jindal, MD
“Everything has turned on its head in such a short span of time due to #covid19. From our ability to do errands, to being able to meet friends in person, and to travel. And one of the greatest contrasts I see now is our relationship with nature. Because of the #coronavirus we cannot run free as much as we are used to. We are in our own zoos, at home, all across the world because of the virus. And the animals roam free. If that does not teach us humans humility, I don't know what will. Stay well everyone π¦π”
Jenelle Jindal writes poems the way a physician works toward a diagnosis: through close attention to what presents itself. Her work uses the compressed lyric to examine the craft of medicine, asking how we describe, teach, and measure what resists easy instrumentation in care. At its deepest, that attention becomes presence, a quality both poetry and medicine demand but cannot fully teach. She studied biological sciences and linguistics at Stanford before training in medicine and neurology at Yale and at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.
The Poet Doctor