
Her Hands
Her hands were cold,
her fingers were long:
I hoped she’ll tell me
what was wrong.
She warmed her hands
beneath hot water.
She was young enough
to be my daughter.
“If you were my dad,
here’s what I’d say …”
I liked it when
she talked that way.
But what she said
was not good news.
Tumors and lumps
left little to choose.
“And yet,” she said,
you have some choice.”
I’d have answered, but
I’d lost my voice.
My hands were cold.
My legs were shaking.
I could not speak.
My heart was breaking.
Oh goodness… heart squeezing.
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Squeezed like a lemon and the carcass left on the kitchen table: nature morte. She was very good, though, and really treated me like one of the family.
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That makes such a difference. The piece I reposted last week about the young woman who went to the ER with belly pain was inspired by a true story. The woman’s pain wasn’t taken seriously by the ER staff. The dark side of the American health care system…
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A whole world of heartbreak in these lines Roger.
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Two years of struggle, too. I have written about it and I am just getting round to revising those ‘raw poems’ and first thoughts.
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I look forward to more
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This hits the heart hard. Beautiful, Roger.
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Thanks, Tanya. The rhyming form is not what I usually do. It felt appropriate here and I’ve been reading Emily Dickinson. I am considering rewriting in the third person. Not sure about that yet.
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I like the conversational style here… that ending really packs a punch. I wouldn’t change it to the third person… 🙂
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Thanks, Al. Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. First person it is. I have some 64 pages of these. I am slowly working them over. s for that English pack: is anybody left standing?
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Maybe I should dig out my boots…
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I think Eddie might need you: a good keg of English beer is the making of a ‘tight’ head prop.
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