NaPoWriMo Day One: Like a Flower, Plucked

This is my first time participating in #NaPoWriMo - National Poetry Writing Month. 

The prompt is based on Robert Hass’s remarkable prose poem, “A Story About the Body” and invites you to write a poem about the body. 

The reasons to worry pile up like boulders on a mountain. 

My husband placed a boulder on the ground first when he sheepishly said "I've got skin cancer." 

My high school BFF placed her ocean-washed rocks from San Francisco next to his. With tears in her eyes, she whispered "I've got breast cancer." 

A sailor friend in Florida threw a handful of sea glass on top as he stated "I've got prostate cancer." 

Then carefully, slowly, I balanced a metamorphic rock from Minnesota at the peak while announcing, "They want to re-do my mammogram next week." 

 

We, patients, sit on the edge of our chairs waiting for THAT life-changing phone call or text which gives us the latest test results. We console each other in person or over the phone and tell each other to "Be Brave" - "You Got This." And somedays, it helps.

 

Today is another waiting day for the family of my high school BFF.  

 

blue ocean breeze  

wafts waves of love and care  

to the patient ... patient  

 

while waiting ... walking  

through a flower show  

her face in every blossom  

 

tests confirm  

tiny tumor ... like a flower  

plucked