Scan to Scan
A fog of emotions blankets the waiting room:
Stress and anxiety, with some impending doom.
Poetry Thursdays
Poetry Thursdays is our initiative to highlight poetry and prose by medical students, with a new post every Thursday. If you are interested in contributing or would like to learn more, please contact our editors.
Contributing Writer
The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Nisitha is a third year MD/PhD student at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Her PhD will be in genetics with an emphasis in lung cancer metastasis. In 2016, she graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in molecular genetics. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, painting, and singing.
Divinity
There is a straight line from / ordering an ultrasound to obtaining / clear cylinders of red blood cells.
Everytown
Every town — / We’ll say it could be any town, / until it has affected every town
Growth
It’s amazing how in three years / How much you grow / As a person
A Lifetime Student of Medicine
Where do I begin? / Skimming her list of diagnoses, my eyes are drawn to her pancreatic cancer. / Confused, I glanced back at her age / I was not mistaken, she just turned 49.
American Pride
American pride — from our pride we should hide, / for it’s caused us to hate, despise, and decry
Doing
Deadlines rush on, relentlessly. / Another email signed, / “Best regards.”
DVTs
Studying blood clots / While I sit for hours on end / Affixing my own.
You
You’ve taken everything / Nothing is left
Circle of Life
Screams. Tears. Despair. / A sense of sadness in the atmosphere.
A Clinical Outing
The hospital room is / fair, square, sterile — / by its vapid / medical posters / and lusterless hospital tools.
Relief
Tears for the dead, tears for the living / who persist in this world that is so unforgiving
Contributing Writer
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine
Melissa Huddleston is a fourth-year medical student at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso, Texas class of 2023. In 2016, she graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Science in informatics and a secondary major in classics. In 2018, she graduated from Baylor University with a Master of Public Health in community health education. She enjoys hiking, jumping rope, and reading. After graduating from medical school, Melissa would like to pursue a career in pediatrics.