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.

In My Huntsman’s Forgotten Left Pocket

Entry, Creative Corner
Blair Snively, Mississippi State University

It is so bitter even the sun

can’t melt the frost on the sod fields or flats

of ice in the depressions below the frozen

hills. I long for a taste of tawny port to burn

the chilled air from my lungs.

Reynard is here.

I know he is, because I can hear him

laughing. Laughing at those silly hounds

who work the line of four buck deer instead

of the scent woven by his musky red tail.

Blaze, taut under my oiled saddle, awaits my cue

Click to read more ...

Puppy Goes to the Farm

Entry, Creative Corner
Brittany Murphy, Georgia

O to the farm we go

To run over the fields high and lo.

But wait! Bark, bark, growl

Around this strange, leggy creature I prowl.

My human just laughs and soon I see,

Horses are fun and their poop is TASTY!

Grain, hay, molasses….oh what delicious glories

Alas, later, my tummy didn’t agree with me….

Rhymes that Rock for a Class Called Tox

Entry, Foot in Mouth Disease

Natalie Quader, Tuskegee

Toxicology is a class that needs a poem
I wrote one about the plants that could hurt pets at home
I could not cover it all 
But the one’s I did, I hope for this test I can recall!

Making one crazy and giving a valium need
Include Water Hemlock, Yellow Jessamine and Milkweed
Less severe CNS effects, but yet not anymore wise
Are the plants locoweed and all the parts of the Buckeyes

White Snakeroot and Black Nightshade will put a dog in a coma
While Diffenbachia will burn one’s stoma
Jimsonweed, Black Nightshade, and Poison hemlock’s toxins end in –ine
Treatment of Larkspur and Jimson Weed use Neostigimine

Poison Hemlock you may dry
But do this for water hemlock and you will die!
Locoweed produces birth defects
Secondary photosensitization equals bad liver effects

Castor and Rosary Pea are not like Sunflower Seeds
Alkaloids can effect cows and horses in their grassy feeds
During Easter, cats may need a new kidney from the bunny
Holidays are bad for cats, the poinsettia can be harsh on their tummy

Wild Pea, Coffee Senna, and Sickle Pods are not good for the muscle
Supportive treatment will be needed, and you’ll have to hustle
Mustard can make poop quite bloody
Cassia occidentalis will make urine quite muddy

Bitterweed will make a sheep spew
But test a pasture for senecio, give it to a ewe!
Algae, Amanita, and Cocklebur are harsh on the liver
Convulsions from Cyanide poisoning will make one shiver

There are still many plants I forgot 
I forgot to mention Sweet Clover Poisoning keeps you from a clot
Cyanide Poisoning makes a dog’s gums bright red
But if I don’t finish this, I’ll never get to bed

Be careful what you put in a pot or in your hay
Hopefully my advice will save a life, or at least give me an A!

A Penny for an Idea

By: Alicia Agnew

Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Class of 2013

A penny for my thoughts you say,

I think they’re worth much more.

For ideas have been the start of wars,

The middle of nations, and often,

The end of someone’s existence.

Ideas are powerful, Ideas are bright,

And some have led souls to the light.

Ideas follow no laws of mankind

But instead jump around inside of our minds.

What are they made of? Can they be seen?

Or are they some sort of fancy solar beam?

They come and they go and they flit around

But like to stay just out of grasp

When you’re fumbling for an answer fast.

They morph with the times or hide in old books,

And some die young while still unheard.

They’re stuffed into our mind’s crannies and nooks

As we file away the new ones we’ve learned.

So if you need my idea, you’ll pay quite a lot

For they’re worth millions, and dollars at that.