Everytown
Every town — / We’ll say it could be any town, / until it has affected every town
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
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.
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
Forgive Me
In my white coat, / I ask for forgiveness. / Forgive me, / to the weary homeless man
The First Physical
General: / Patient is in NAD, / except for being awoken at 7 a.m. by someone he has never met
Contributing Writer
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Tyler Whitney is a third-year medical student at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, OK class of 2023. In 2019 she graduated from East Central University with a Bachelor's of Science in biology. She hopes to one day become a developmental pediatrician and enhance the lives of patients and parents of those with exceptional abilities. This piece was written one week into her internal medicine rotation and encapsulates her thoughts during her first physical on a real patient.