Compassion in the eyes of the medical
receptionist as she relinquishes
my envelope of ticking time bombs,
wishing me good luck in my journey;
my husband's vow to keep the house clean,
no need to worry when visitors
come calling after surgery ...
as if dust bunnies were my real worry;
a thank-you call from my oncologist
grateful for the letter disclosing
non-medical components of my life
to explain my decision-making;
the library patron who volunteered
to drive me to infusions;
purple polka-dotted we love you
PajamaGram from cousins;
delight at being rejected for chemo
so I could watch my 74-year-old mother
fawn like a teenager over Josh Groban
at Boston Garden;
Barbara, the dancing chemo nurse
who shushed me mid-shimmy, finger
to her lips, warning
Don’t reveal my secret;
co-workers demanding
an occupation to help in the healing,
not understanding their daily check-ins
were all the salve I needed.
writing has been published in The Ekphrastic Review; Glass: A Journal of Poetry; Gyroscope Review; Haikuniverse; Minerva Rising, ONE ART: A journal of poetry; Panoply: a literary zine; and Willawaw Journal. She hosts the Duxbury Poetry Circle, and was featured on a poetry podcast at Onyx Publications. Her first collection of poetry, Belly Dancing in a Brown Sweatsuit, is forthcoming from Kelsay Books.
