“New Normal” by Puja Mohan, a Second-Year College of Medicine Student

Additional poetry by Puja Mohan, a second-year Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Medicine student, has been showcased by in-Training, an online peer-reviewed publication for medical students.

Read Mohan’s newest – and timely – poem titled “New Normal.”

New Normal

Never committed a crime,
but now I feel like a prisoner.

Trapped in our minds,
our spirits leashed,
our existence wanders among these all too familiar walls.

How have we not become hysterical?
Have we accepted this insanity as the new normal?
For those that thrive from the bells of laughter and the “hustling and bustling,”
now feel trapped, surrounded by radio silence.

Reluctantly and unexpectedly we have signed up to a new “quarantine routine.”
A simple notion of could you imagine Corona coming here?
has now become our reality.

This muffled routine encompasses not only COVID-19,
but ongoing issues of human cruelty, racial injustice,
as well as social and political division more than ever before.
We can’t help but wonder, when will it all end?
“New normal” is repeatedly stressed across the media,
but when will life as we knew it come back?
Do we even want that back anymore?

We continue to navigate through these unsolicited times,
grapple with these uncertainties,
but must bear in mind to find ourselves amongst the chaos.

Despite the incessant isolation,
the turmoil, and the division,
no one is alone.

Be kind to one another and ourselves,
seek and provide help to one another.
Work on yourself,
continue to explore and spread love,
and try to free yourself from the chaos of it all.

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Poetry contest for medical students

NEOMED holds an annual poetry contest, the William Carlos Williams Poetry Competition, for medical students across the country.

Prizes are awarded. Read about the William Carlos Williams Poetry Competition, including how to enter and poetry from past winners.