Susan Barry-Schulz

extended to mankind

An illustration of a peaceful sleeping black and gray cat curled up against a golden-yellow background all superimposed over the text of a page from a Gray's Anatomy textbook. There are chosen words left untouched and outlined in black ink to form a poem.
An illustration of a peaceful sleeping black and gray cat curled up against a golden-yellow background all superimposed over the text of a page from a Gray’s Anatomy textbook. There are chosen words left untouched and outlined in black ink to form a poem.

(listen to the poem, read by the author)

Remember
such details
from cats.

Study the display
of the body—
extended
toward mankind.

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it’s floor formed by the heart

A block of pink color embellished with ink illustrations of small bright red flowers inspired by embroidery patterns is superimposed over the text of a page from a Gray's Anatomy textbook.There are chosen words left untouched and outlined in black ink to form a poem.
A block of pink color embellished with ink illustrations of small bright red flowers inspired by embroidery patterns is superimposed over the text of a page from a Gray’s Anatomy textbook.There are chosen words left untouched and outlined in black ink to form a poem.

(listen to the poem, read by the author)

Inclining towards
one another
to form
an oval depression,

its floor formed
by the heart.

The free edge
is most distinct—

a small opening is occasionally found
occupied.

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myocardial architecture

A block of turquoise blue color embellished with simple illustrated black ink motifs inspired by embroidery patterns is superimposed over the text of a page from a Gray's Anatomy textbook. There are chosen words left untouched and outlined in black ink to form a poem.
A block of turquoise blue color embellished with simple illustrated black ink motifs inspired by embroidery patterns is superimposed over the text of a page from a Gray’s Anatomy textbook. There are chosen words left untouched and outlined in black ink to form a poem.

(listen to the poem, read by the author)

long held and present

intricate
and of
the heart

separated
by elements
of the other

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Author’s Note

Over this past year I have been working on a project using my college Gray’s Anatomy 1500 page textbook as a source text. As a physical therapist I worked in patient care for many years working with people dealing with illness or injury and through this work I  developed a deep appreciation for the human body and the human spirit. In 2020 I became disabled and unable to work due to illness. In working my way through the dry scientific language of this text, which focuses in minute detail on the human body, I sometimes wonder if I am trying to squeeze out little psychic messages to myself. I use marker, color pencil and ink working directly on the text itself. Sometimes they are successful and other times less so.

Images from this visual poetry/artwork have been repurposed and adapted by the poet/artist–for poetic and artistic purposes, in the spirit of fair use–from the 36th British edition of Gray’s Anatomy.

About the Artist

Susan Barry-Schulz grew up just outside of Buffalo, New York. She is a licensed physical therapist living with chronic illness and an advocate for mental health and reducing stigma in IBD. Her poetry has appeared in New Verse News, SWWIM, Barrelhouse online, Nightingale & Sparrow, Shooter Literary Magazine, Kissing Dynamite, Bending Genres, Feral, Quartet and elsewhere.