Adventures through the Anatomy Jungle

Entry, Creative Corner
Sarah Bye & Laura Whitelaw, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine

First year explorers assemble,

Scalpels and forceps in hand

Fearing the worst, we tremble

In the jungle of Anatomy land.

Embarking upon our expedition

The atlas ahead towards the dens,

On our way to becoming clinicians,

We travel with our new friends.

Machetes sculpting a trail

Through muscle, tendon and limb.

Uncharted territory, we unveil,

Where nerves and blood vessels swim

Splenius, scalenus, trapezius, “oh, my!”

New muscles feed curiosity.

Descending pecs and lattissimus dorsi.

Insertion at which tuberosity?

Paddling down the vertebral canal,

And along the spinal cord,

It’s all we can do to keep up morale,

Through foramen unexplored.

Drifting ahead to the thorax,

Lumbar region and beyond,

We stumble upon the Lorax,

And ask him to respond.

“How will we pay off our loans?

It seems like a surmountable hurdle.

And master each of the bones,

From the thoracic to pectoral girdle?”

“Dorsal, ventral, cranial, caudal

Forget your mountain of debt

Learn directions on the skeleton model

And you will become a vet.”

In four short years, the dense forest clears

Revealing new responsibility,

We begin our hard-earned veterinary careers

In a world of possibility.