Elizabeth Beam
The Heart of the Matter

AwardBlue Ribbon

SchoolGilmour Academy

CityGates Mills, Ohio

TeacherCoreen Schaefer

InternBrendan Mulcahy

MediumPoem

Writer's Statement

In both meaning and physical form, this concrete poem outlines the path of the transducer through the coronary artery to its ultimate goal: the heart. Even if the transducer does not literally capture ultrasonic images of the cardiac muscles, its goal is to prevent heart disease by detecting abnormalities in the artery wall. Just as the transducer emits echoing ultrasonic waves to create an image out of sound waves, I use assonance and alliteration throughout the poem to transform words into a lyrical illustration of the science behind the high resolution ultrasound transducer.

Other Work by Elizabeth Beam: Collecting Echoes and Seeing Via Sound