15 POEM and E-mail: "Second Chemotherapy"

4/13/2006

I wrote a poem during chemotherapy this afternoon. This is the first poem I have written in months since I was too tired to write poetry when I was pregnant.




Second Chemotherapy


My hair falls like teardrops,
Silently grieving today’s treatment and its necessity.
I read to learn more,
Education revealing how much we don’t know.
One flat printout sparks hope,
Counts from my blood looking good.


Needles, tests, infusions, draws…

This is my life now. Surgeries and nausea.
Medications and limitations.
My life. My cancer to kill.
Appointments and chemicals. My life to win back.


Teardrops fall and dampen the hair-covered shirt,
Each strand a little grave to that carefree time before diagnosis.
I will wonder evermore,
“Is this the day it comes back?”
I accept today’s poison,
Increasing odds that my unwelcome visitor will die without successors.

This is my life, dammit. The fight is on.



Written by Angela Patterson
Copyright Angela Patterson 2006

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