Susan Manley Poet Rhyme

How to Get Out of the Funk

I am recovering my mojo, though I have almost no hair
That damn Chemo stuff took it away, and one day it was not there

And it really did fall out in a matter of days
Almost comical your mind says HEY!

And despite being a woman, I feel I look like a man
A bit embarrassing you see, it was not in my plan

I had worn the "cold cap" that supposedly preserved it in health
But while they were nuking my body, they nuked it to hell

So I wear those funny hippy hats now, 
those slouchy knitted caps that you see
And I do my best and pretend they don't see

I know it grows back, but there is embarrassment still
And it may come back curly.. good lord a new hairstyle I will

But for now it's an inch, and a little sparse on top
And for a while before it all came out it was an Albert Einstein mop!

I kinda laughed horrified when it went to that point
And well, I now smoke those pot joints

It helps with the nausea which I still have
and it relaxes me on the things that make me sad

See I just lost an ex business partner to hospital error
and that played my sleep, her wife in despair. 

Losing my hair is nothing compared to that loss. 
I know it down deep, I have suffered that cost. 

And so now, I laugh at the vanity hit 
and put makeup on when I need to look fit

And I still run around braless you see
because well I am a heathen, societies freed

And if dignity was bent by the small sacrifice
I project my personality and suffer that cost

Keep swimming, Keep swimming... 
Like what Dory said
That's my motto that sings in my head

How to get out of the funk.   Artimus  (C)  2/3/24  Susan Manley

Inspired by Rebecca Heineman , my friend, former business partner who lost her spouse Jennell Jaquays.

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David Fisher February 7, 2024 at 4:35 PM What an inspirational poem, Susan. It's good to see this levity after what you had to endure. And to follow Dory's lead, what a great idea! Susan Manley November 30, 2025 at 11:35 PM I realizes just now I never answered you. I was just re reading this poem you see. We just lost Rebecca. The women who inspired the poem. She too developed cancer. An aggressive lung cancer that had metastasized by the time they found it. And thanks for your kind words. My life has been a torrent of death with people close to me . And I am ok.. but on this day a bit shell shocked still. People are interviewing me for publications. Becky was a very public figure. I was her very unpublic partner in biz. lol. CPTSD can do that to you. Make you feel the need to be private. It’s always been my intellect that saves me. But now I can let the emotions out in poem and song. And I suspect a new poem on loss is coming.