just a medical student.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m just a med student. The rest of the team will be here shortly, they’ll explain everything to you.”
We wait in silence.
Tag: poetry
Contributing Writer
UT Southwestern School of Medicine
Aishwarya Iyer is a fourth-year medical student at UT Southwestern in Dallas, TX. She graduated with a Master of Public Health in Global Health from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in 2022. She is passionate about reproductive justice, public health, narrative medicine, research, and advocacy, and is excited to engage with these varied interests in her career as a family medicine physician. In her free time, Aishwarya finds joy in exploring new coffee shops, working out, reading novels and dreaming of writing one someday, and spending time with friends and family.
champagne tap
she is curled on her side like a child — / eyes closed, back exposed.
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.
Uvalde
Uvalde / I hear the cries of children as they play at the school across the street / They are joyful and exuberant as they play in the Texas heat / unaware of the fear that will soon be unleashed
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.