Michael Stout completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of South Carolina in 1983. He practiced in Columbia, SC, for 30 years, chiefly in urgent care medicine. In 2014 he relocated to Washington, DC, as medical director of George Washington University’s urgent care program. He continues to practice part time in a GW urgent care office three blocks from the White House. His wife, Polly, a tour guide in DC and a prolific haiku poet, is his best critic and his muse.