Posted: October 9, 2009

Surgeons must be very careful

When they take the knife!

Underneath their fine incisions

Stirs the culprit – Life!

Why would Emily Dickinson write about surgeons? Why is ‘life’ considered the culprit? First year student veterinarians grappled with such questions during our annual OVC Community Readers gathering. The selected stories, poems, and essays focused on the transformation from pre-vet to veterinary student to veterinarian; the human-animal bond; dying, death and grief; and the joy of being a veterinarian. As might be expected, reactions from students were quite varied. A few had not even opened the booklet; others discovered new ways of looking at issues and concerns; and some felt like they had ‘found a long lost friend – literature’.