Cost of Living by Erica Sternin

Chemo Lounge

Chemo Lounge

In honor of “breast cancer awareness” month

The wagons are circled,
Twenty-six chemo chairs.
We face the walls
And contemplate mortality.
Forty-two-thousand-dollars per
Three-week infusion.
Some are cheaper. The weekly treatments
Are only twenty-four-thousand.
Every chair in use, three shifts a day.

The nurse teaches us about pee.
Lower the lid before you flush —
Don’t contaminate your husband’s toothbrush.
Nevermind the frogs downstream,
Four legged cousins, your fishy friends.
You just sleep now.  Sleep.

I dream:
If I am very lucky, there will be an evening
Where the robins weave a web of calls,
And the fragrance of warmed petals lifts me off my feet.
I’ll hardly notice the frogs not croaking.

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4 thoughts on “Cost of Living by Erica Sternin

  1. Me conmueven profundamente las palabras que he leido, me llevaron en retroceso hace dieciseis años que estuve en quimioterapia y radioterapia, el solo hecho de recordar me hace estremecer y sentir profunda empatia con todos los que tienen cancer, yo los llamo hermanos, asi querida hermanita Erica Steringin te envio un grande y fuerte abrazo fraternal solidario, para ti y para todos los que se encuentren en este trance de tratamientos

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