"The UCLA Beat" Features Photo and Poem by Zhuang Fang, MD, MPH

Good Morning Matterhorn by Zhuang Fang, MD, MPH
"Good Morning Matterhorn" by Zhuang Fang, MD, MPH

March 3, 2023

Artwork by Zhuang Fang, MD, MPH, was selected to be featured in the 2022-2023 edition of The UCLA Beat, the UCLA DGSOM journal of literary and artistic expression.

Dr. Fang's photograph entitled "Good Morning, Matterhorn" depicts the golden sunrise shining on the tip of the mountain in the Alps. In his practice, Dr. Fang has used photos to communicate with autistic patients and to improve patient care and wellness with empathy and compassion.

Dr. Fang has published poetry in Chinese in a bi-monthly poetry journal, New World Poetry, for the past nine years. "Rhythm" is Dr. Fang's first bilingual poem in Chinese and English. It recounts the jazz music and camaraderie that flowed through the UCLA DAPM group during a social event at the historic Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Rhythm

By Zhuang Fang, MD, MPH

Sitting in a tiny dark room
Close, shoulder to shoulder
Almost feeling each other’s heart beat

Jazz, just like cardiac anesthesia
Is about rate and rhythm
Yet, in the operating room
tachycardia and dysrhythmia drive us crazy
But in this tiny dark room
Sophisticated and organized dysrhythmia 
Running between AFib and aflutter
flows within our blood, into our brain

I like jazz, a dancing chaos of sound
The mix of trumpet, long horn, saxophone, piano, bass, and a restless drummer
Much more complicated than my 622 mixtures 

We are not drunk
But almost in a dance 
Clapping and cheering, disoriented
Under the watchful eye of legends
Staring from the wall with the most satisfied smiles

It is the soul of jazz, hidden in 
the faded and discolored oil paintings 
Rocking this little old house
near Bourbon street
Echoing the history of the Mississippi river 

Sipping on whiskey, the trumpeter sings
"While wandering on a New York street
My heart stays in Louisiana..."
Strong, Loud, Then a whisper
The trumpet starts mumbling
Up, and down
As if asking, we all 
Coming from every corner of the world
Are you homesick tonight?

2022.10.23. UCLA DAPM social in the Preservation Hall, New Orleans, Louisiana, during ASA Annual Meeting

旋律

我们拥挤地坐在暗淡的小房间
肩膀挨肩膀,几乎听到彼此的心跳

爵士乐,就像心臟麻醉学
心率与旋律是主导
手术室里的心率过速或混乱
会让我们疯掉
然而,在这暗淡的小房间
微妙而有节律的心率过速和混乱
介乎于心房颤动与扑动之间
却翻滚在我们的血管,传递至大脑

我喜欢爵士乐舞蹈般的狼藉
如调味在小号,长号,莎士风,钢琴,大提琴,以及永远坐不稳鼓手的大杂烩
简直比我的622混合剂更加复杂

我们都没有醉,但却如疯癫般
失态地拼命鼓掌和喝彩
毫无意识到墙上爵士家们的注目
以及流露出来的心满意足的微笑

这就是爵士音乐的灵魂,隐藏在
绕墙垂挂的斑驳褪色的油画
摇晃着这小小的暗室
溜达至波钵街
迴荡着密西西比河边的故事

呷一口威士忌酒,小号手唱着
“当我在纽约街头流达
我依然心系露易丝安那”
小号声忽强忽弱,近乎于喃喃自语
也似乎在发问
我们都来自五湖四海
今晚,你是否也在思乡?