A Journey and a poem: The Kiss of Life

I’ve been on a journey since I last wrote for this blog. Not a journey in space and hardly a journey in time. The clocks kept ticking, but time often seemed to stand still. Like all journeys should be, it was a journey in learning and growing.

I was diagnosed with rectal cancer, and since then experienced first hand what it feels like to be ill and helpless. Along with the usual onslaught of radiation, chemo and surgery, I also developed a serious infection. I felt like I was at the mercy of the medical system, but in the end, all the interventions helped me get back on track.

I thought I would blog about my cancer journey, but I wasn’t able to write while I was ill. I couldn’t put words to the experience beyond sharing the facts with people I knew. Even on my good days, writing was elusive. This spring I thought I was on the other side of it. While I worked to regain my strength and energy, I began to write again. I wrote some short stories and made a good start on a novella. Poems remained elusive.

A month ago everything changed. Cancer was discovered on a lymph node, necessitating a return to chemo. I could tell you all the details, but what I want to share here is that I am writing! I will soon be posting poems to my blog. I’ve had thoughts about returning to a novel I wrote a few years ago and redoing some of it. I may also share some of the things I’ve learned through living with cancer and metastasis. I’ve learned so much, but not things that are easy to put into words.

I am including a poem with this post. I asked myself, and you might ask as well, why I would include a poem about flowers. I have learned that everything is much more connected than we realize. The insects and the flowers have everything to do with us, and without their presence our presence is as empty as the shell of the cicada nymph once the cicada has emerged.

The Kiss of Life

These conical flower clusters
Dress the tree in white
Send an open invitation

Insects come
One after another
Little black ants crawl inside the cone
Wasps flit, abdomens hanging, ready to curl into place
Bees buzz and dance, their solid bodies crawl in for nectar
Butterflies flutter, confined to the outer petals

With a gentle caress
Many feet tiptoe among the petals
The glide and slide of wings
Whisper songs of love

As the flower rocks in the gentle breeze
Over and over again
She receives the kiss of life

Some housekeeping: while I was ill, the program that this blog (Google) used to send email updates was discontinued. If you wish to receive email updates to alert you that I have posted a new selection to this blog, please use the contact form at the very bottom of this page and tell me “please send me updates”. In that case I will send an email from my own email program, using BCC, to let you know I’ve published a new post.