Fall is here.
The heat of summer has packed up and left town.
Mornings feel softer—
like the air finally exhaled.
Time for cider doughnuts—
though honestly,
I never needed an excuse.
Krispy Kreme raised me right.
It’s that early stretch of the school year
when med students still walk with pep,
still think our planners mean something,
still drink coffee because we want to—
not because we have to.
We feel whole for a while,
or maybe just circular,
like the doughnuts we swear are study fuel.
A little sugar, a little hope,
and somehow,
we keep going.
We Keep Going
This poem reflects the persistence that carries medical students through each new season, as in the small joys, the chance to begin again, and the reminder that life moves in cycles. Even when things feel low, we find courage in the ordinary (coffee, doughnuts, fall mornings, humor). So, we keep going, round and around.
Bio: DeMarcus Burke is a native of Mobile, Alabama. He studied philosophy at Morehouse College, where he began exploring questions of identity, care, and meaning through writing. A finalist for the 2025 Rattle Poetry Prize, his work appears in The Intima and Auxocardia, and is forthcoming in Rattle. He is a medical student at the University of Michigan.