Trish, I agree with Richard that this is a difficult read, and also a wonderfully written one. I’m with you, walking the cancer path, and what really resonated for me was this stanza:
I have never hated you
I did not name you Enemy
I mourned the losses
Celebrated the love that remained.
That refusal to cast cancer only as “Enemy,” that choice to mourn and to celebrate in the same breath, feels so true to me. The vernacular of “battling” and “surviving” cancer so often flattens the experience into win/lose, strong/weak, as if our worth lies in how hard we fight. Your poem lets in something more: that we are changed, sometimes broken, still loving, still loved, still part of the "Great Wild".
Thank you for this vulnerable and wildly beautiful poem.
Tough to read. Thanks for sharing, Trish.
Trish, would love to connect!
Send me a dm!
Trish, I agree with Richard that this is a difficult read, and also a wonderfully written one. I’m with you, walking the cancer path, and what really resonated for me was this stanza:
I have never hated you
I did not name you Enemy
I mourned the losses
Celebrated the love that remained.
That refusal to cast cancer only as “Enemy,” that choice to mourn and to celebrate in the same breath, feels so true to me. The vernacular of “battling” and “surviving” cancer so often flattens the experience into win/lose, strong/weak, as if our worth lies in how hard we fight. Your poem lets in something more: that we are changed, sometimes broken, still loving, still loved, still part of the "Great Wild".
Thank you for this vulnerable and wildly beautiful poem.
Thank you, Lisa. I feel seen.
Thank you for reading, Richard.
this was so good. &&& maybe you can lend some nice thoughts for this person currently going through the battle right now? 🥺
https://substack.com/@itsmichelled/note/p-186668071?r=79cxli
Thanks for sharing this Trish! So very glad you are well now.
Me, too! Interesting to consider that if I were not well, this poem would not exist. There is so much I no longer take for granted.