ECG

Michael J. Leach

The Science

‘ECG’ is an acronym for the scientific term ‘electrocardiogram’. In the field of diagnostic medicine, an ECG is a test that measures and visualises the electrical activity of the heart as it contracts. When a healthy human undergoes this test, the ECG shows a P wave flowing into a QRS complex and then a T wave.  In my concrete poem, the shape of the P wave is represented by the initial small bump, the QRS complex by the steeply falling, rising, falling, and rising line, and the T wave by the final larger bump. The spikes formed by the QRS complex are likened to stalactites and stalagmites: rock formations characterised by vertical extension, rising from the floor or falling from the ceiling. When a healthy human undergoes this test, the ECG shows a P wave, QRS complex, and T wave that look like the ones in this poem.

The Poet

Michael J. Leach is an Australian biostatistician, epidemiologist, and poet. His poetry has appeared in such journals as Cordite, Rabbit, Meniscus, Plumwood Mountain, The Sciku Project, Pangyrus, Consilience, the Medical Journal of Australia, and the British Journal of Medical Practitioners. Michael’s debut poetry collection is the science-themed chapbook Chronicity (Melbourne Poets Union, 2020).

Next poem: Luminaria by Regine Ebner