Dear Cancer,
Wherever you are, I’m not sure,
I do thank you for not coming into my body
though you certainly have come into my orbit.
Not even a year ago, we learned you
were having your way with someone close to me,
worming your way in, causing pain that still haunts her,
though her medications have gotten the best of you.
You’ve tortured others close to me,
both family and friends, some multiple times,
and I want to scream, that’s not fair!
You’re responsible for the massacres of their bodies.
One was stopped from having a second child;
at least the other has announced one on the way.
Why do you deserve to be so colorful–
the bright hues of children’s toys
more colorful than healthy cells.
Perhaps there’s an advantage–you’re easier
to target in bright pink, purple, and periwinkle
In spheres and splats and tentacles of overlapping
tints and tones, occasional amorphous blobs.
Now you’re in cahoots with MAGA and DOGE,
destroying our hopes–the research
we’re counting on to assassinate you once and for all.
Don’t get too comfortable. I assure you,
we will succeed in reinstating research and funding.
We will succeed in obliterating you! Get out of my life!
Copyright 2025 Cathy Hailey
With thanks for the idea to the Eastern Shore Writers Association’s
Epistolary Poetry: Arriving at “Truth” by Different Means–with David P. Kozinski
Bio:
Cathy Hailey teaches in Johns Hopkins University’s online MA in Teaching Writing Program and previously taught English and Creative Writing and sponsored the Eddas Literary/Art Magazine in Prince William County. She serves as Northern Region Vice President of The Poetry Society of Virginia (PSV), co-hosts Virginia Voices, and organizes In the Company of Laureates. She administers the Student Contest and Young Poets in the Community Program for PSV and the Jacklyn Potter Young Writers Competition for The Words Works. Her chapbook, I’d Rather Be a Hyacinth, was published by Finishing Line Press. Recent and forthcoming poem publications include Little Free Lit Mag, First Frost and Foto Specchio.Visit cathyhailey.com.
Donation Appeal:
To help victims of cancer and to help foster continuing research into this deadly disease, please consider donating to either The American Cancer Society or The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Thank you.
30 for 30 is sponsored by Potomac Review
