What pointless advice came your way today, Bret and Li?
I hope you did not fail to grasp that:
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. “
( Yo, chemo! )
“Remember to breathe. “
( Because lungs need to be told.)
Here’s something no one will tell you:
They are only perky for a little while.
For the rest of your life, you will not miss them.
Your future baby, watching from a cloud somewhere,
will gurgle over her bottle, thank you, mommy,
I’m grateful to you for being alive.
And the baby you’ve already raised
doesn’t care….
And the ones you will never birth won’t know, will they?
The unsung beauty of mastectomy scars:
Like a delicate coloring book waiting for you to tattoo
the folded skin, like a stack of well-loved linens.
Link arms with me, Li, friend of my youth.
Charleston with me, Bret, down the corridor!
I haven’t had breast or any other kind of cancer yet,
but something will come for me, sometime.
I will be waiting at the window.
It will be perfect.
Now, I am here for you, the wine will be cold,
the coffee scalding, you don’t have to wear pink
and I will send them all on their merry way.
