The Longest Shift

by Veronica Tucker

Image credit: Annie Spratt on Unsplash

The shift never ends.

Even when you leave,

it follows—

stitched into the seams

of your routine,

tucked into the quiet

between conversations.

You think it's over,

but it’s not.

It’s just paused,

waiting for the right moment

to pick up

where it left off.

Sleep doesn’t help.

Rest isn’t rest

when your body

doesn’t believe

the emergency

is over.

***

Veronica Tucker

Veronica Tucker is an emergency medicine and addiction medicine physician whose poetry explores the intersections of medicine, motherhood, and humanity. A lifelong New Englander, she weaves themes of trauma, resilience, and fleeting time into her work, drawing from her career in the emergency department. She is married with three children and two dogs, balancing the chaos of medicine with her love for travel, fitness, running, and family. When she’s not writing or working, she can usually be found savoring a quiet moment with a matcha latte, reflecting on the beauty in life’s smallest details.