Ward Rounds

"The original edition of Ward Rounds was published privately in 1969, and then a year or two later in a second edition by a tiny (now defunct) publishing house. The book consists of poems based on the kinds of patients a young doctor encountered early in his training and practice. The author, Kenneth Dale Beernink, died of leukemia in 1969. He was 31 years old. A young doctor, Richard Ratzan, encountered the poetry book early in his own training and practice, and reread it many times over the decades since then. With his prompting and the assistance of Beernink's widow, we are re-issuing this collection. It is a poetic time-capsule that will be of special interest to those in the medical profession"--