PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - M-A Dürrigl AU - S Fatović-Ferenčić TI - “I am living in my own corpse”—the experience of tuberculosis in poems by A B Šimić AID - 10.1136/jmh.2004.000188 DP - 2006 Jun 01 TA - Medical Humanities PG - 4--6 VI - 32 IP - 1 4099 - http://mh.bmj.com/content/32/1/4.short 4100 - http://mh.bmj.com/content/32/1/4.full SO - J Med Humanit2006 Jun 01; 32 AB - This paper focuses on seven poems dealing with various aspects of his experience of tuberculosis and uncovers different shades of poetic self within his verses: the notions of self transforming from a helpless child to a ghostly, transparent creature in the secluded world of a hospital ward, and to decaying flesh and “living in a cadaver” are pinpointed. Poetry as creation is the opposite of physical demise; in poetry Šimić finds escape not from the inevitable end, but from suffering. These poems are not confessions of a sick young man; they are relevant works of art touching readers’ sensitivity and imagination. They may be relevant for medical professionals in enabling them to view disease—in this case tuberculosis—in a wider context and to be open to the many and different ways in which the experience of illness can be expressed.