The Intern’s Spot

We teach every intern how to find

the place where they can lay down

a silver stethoscope and listen

to everything that matters at once-

the heart hammering in its hollow,

air charging the lungs, the bowel’s

borborygmi, all the body’s music

in an instant, as if the intern

had flicked a radio’s power switch,

diagnosis nailed tight at 2 AM

when all anyone wants is the right

answer and a few hours sleep.

And there is pleasure for us,

the teachers who pass down secrets

our professors shared long ago,

like advice from a loving parent,

like the translation of a sacred text,

or the last sun-bleached page

ripped from a lifeboat’s survival kit.