Cancer

I hear you are a hard
lump in my breast.
I can't make out the doctor's
words - lost to the flourescent lights -
his lips move, like my first
child suckling.  Intangible.

Something falls
somewhere in the room,
it must have been my favorite 
angel figurine. her white
wings folding when lust took over -
his hand, cupping my treasure
size C.  Or the milk pitcher
from the fridge - the gray kitten 
we are weaning
crying at my soaked feet.

Back to the taste
of sterile tongue depressors,
the chill of metal clamps,
the motions I know by heart now.
Raise your right arm.  Now your left.
This won't hurt.
Now he is talking, again.
About diets
and chemotherapy
and medications
and removal of me.

I hear you are a hard
lump in my breast.


October is Breast Cancer awareness month.
Support Cancer research.

Laura, Joy, Teresa, Joyce,
"I'll be dreaming my dreams with you". . .
(quote from Dreaming my Dreams, 
song by Dolores O'Riodan Burton of The Cranberries)

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    © October, 1997.
  Denise Angela Celeste