Eric Cheng

Eric Cheng is a primary care physician for the VA, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at UCLA, a devoted husband and father, and an occasional poet. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he draws inspiration from his patients’ incredible stories, the curiosity of medical students, the even greater curiosity of his two boys, and the dynamic faith community at The Garden Christian Fellowship.

Eric grew up in a home devoid of poetry. In high school he had a brief dalliance with poetry, when his submissions Disturbing the Peace and Pacific Entreaty won a peace-themed poetry contest with a $50 prize. These two poems were dashed off in the space of 10 minutes. Doing the math, he determined that writing (even bad) poetry could earn upwards of a $300 an hour. When poetry turned out not to be the lucrative profession he had misjudged it to be, he quickly lost interest.

It wasn’t until college that Eric’s passion for poetry was unexpectedly rekindled. A Harvard core curriculum requirement led him to enroll in a survey course taught by the renowned poetry critic Helen Vendler. Her critical reading and analysis of poems were a revelation: Eric’s imagination became captivated by the possibilities and pleasure of poetic expression.

Over the years, Eric’s river of inspiration has been fed by various tributaries which deserve mention. He harbors fond memories of meandering among the overflowing bookshelves at Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Harvard Square. The neighborhood coffeehouse evenings at Cambridgeport Baptist Church allowed him to regularly enjoy live poetry readings and original music. As a medical student he took an elective course in Literature and Medicine, which reminded him that the art of medicine is as much about humanity as about science. These days, Eric’s office door serves as a makeshift poetry billboard for his VA co-workers to enjoy and critique his latest work.