Best Melanoma Poems
Where the sun beats on dry cracking plains like an anvil. Where Winter’s frozen fingers strangle growth. Where sweaty shirts cling to mortal skin. Where humanity stands on a deserted beach, or waits in a crowded queue; that’s where we live.
Savour the moment
Hungrily consume essence
Let flavours explode
Biting Life’s experience
Expires quicker in sun
The venomous bite
Distant, but ever so bright
A nerve doth stricken
A heart so sickened
Melanoma like stature
A rapture like creature
Ruthless and mean
Cunning and keen
Held back three years
No cause full tears
Beatings and bruises
His torture confuses
The light now breaks
From what the bully takes
Fought back with friends
Now the bully defends
*comments welcomed and appreciated*
Hello
Goodbye
Morning
Sickness
Cigarette?
Cancer
Drugs
Salvation
Fluffy little bunnies
Myxomatosis
Yoghurt
Bacteria
Sunshine
Melanoma
Toilet
Armageddon
Death
Everywhere
Drugs
Salvation
Healthy
Obsession
Hypochondriac
Moi?
That cancer has ravaged my family, it is true
My mom first with melanoma at age forty-two,
Bone cancer took my Uncle Cladie for a ride
Until the pain caused him to commit suicide,
My dad lost his battle to non-Hodgkins lymphoma
Then, my wife Deb succumbed to a rare carcinoma.
I believe most forms of cancer we can prevent
Doctors say our lifestyles can cause us to present,
Not availing ourselves of many self-cancer tests
While ingesting carcinogens and being stressed,
Using tobacco products like there is no tomorrow
Will sooner or later cause us more than sorrow.
If one of your close relatives died from the disease
It’s a warning signal you cannot do as you please
Eat nutritious foods, exercise, get plenty of rest
The least to be said is doing your dead-level best
To maintain a healthy lifestyle with a regular check
Do not say, “We’re all going to die—what the heck!”
Yes, it is true, we are all going to die…someday
Experiencing the suffering from cancer, I can say,
Leads me to believe there is a much better way
So, heed the advice I am sharing with you today,
Believe me, my friend, tobacco use is not okay.
Please, do not let a frivolous habit make you pay!
FIRST PLACE WINNER
May 31, 2021
written for the "Cancer Ivy" Poetry Contest
sponsored by Chantelle Anne Cooke
(an abbreviated sestina)
[NOTE: I purposely chose the provocative title to attract
as many readers as possible. It's an important message!]
In December 1951, I turned ten years old--
Harry Truman was president of the United States,
The Korean Conflict raged on a faraway peninsula,
The Golden Gate Bridge closed due to high winds.
My mother developed melanoma in her left leg.
In December of 1956, I turned fifteen years old--
Dwight D. Eisenhower was president of the United States
The Korean Conflict was over,
Asian flu reached pandemic levels, and,
Elvis Presley purchased Graceland.
My mother died on a hot July 1957 evening in our home,
And our lives changed forever--
For, you see, our mother meant the whole world to us.
Elizabeth Agnes Allport Hankins was only forty-two-years old
when she passed away, leaving three children:
my sister Lois, the oldest at twenty-two,
my brother Jimmie, the youngest at ten,
and me.
Two communities mourned the death of our sweet, Godly mother
who for a little over five years, through suffering and pain,
cared for us kids and taught us how to care for ourselves, for
“After I’m gone,” she would say, “You’ll need to know this.”
We never heard her cry,
We never heard her complain,
We never heard her express fear.
We never heard her question her faith in God.
For years, no matter where I was living, I would always return
on Memorial Day to visit my mom’s grave in
that old, overgrown cemetery in the West Virginia hills.
One Memorial Day, I suddenly realized something I had not before.
My mother never has lain deep in that cold, stony ground--
She forever lies in the sweetest, Godliest depths of her children's hearts,
She is still watching over us just like she always did,
and, because she is always with us,
We need never go back.
FIRST PLACE WINNER
Written on March 28, 2021
For the “Mother” Contest
Sponsored by Constance La France
wildflower meadow
as tall as a muntjac
cuckoo cuckooing
-
farmers haymaking
grasshoppers stridulating
don't touch a stinkbug
-
wood admiral glides
honeysuckle its host plant
humid the hot nights
-
warm is the river
fish rising leaping for flies
life seeking cool shade
-
inverted swimmers
water boatmen taking in air
cygnets follow pen
-
as fall approaches
swifts are well on their way
second brood blackbirds
-
hungry mosquitoes
human siestas a nap
insect repellent
-
sunbathing insects
flowerflies hovering free
mowers thrashing lawns
-
farmers cutting hay
a smell not forgotten
wildlife be afraid
-
sunbathers warning
cream up or suffer sunburn
worse melanoma
-
swifts immature
three years on the wing
unbelievable
-
sand martins nesting
adorning soft sandy clifts
freshwater skimmers
-
dragonflies masters
watch them fly backwards a thrill
kingfishers posing
-
super hot weather
droughts not good for wildlife
reprieved... thunderstorms
-
climate warming
both poles can't take the heat
humans all sweating
-
a countryside walk
on a warm sunlit day
foxes sunbathing
Carcinoma, melanoma sick twins
Inside their innocuous hosts grin
For surface tension brings no chagrin
Another, common diagnosis will time lend
Healthy cell structures to amend
Immune systems with guile befriend
In state of denial, journey begins
Signs not to the human eye hidden
But worry has healthy mind forbidden
Asbestos, carbon dioxide, dioxin
Immune filters will certainly fend
Smoking, over eating, years of gin
Only near life's end wages will append
Per chance through pore seeps pathogen
To rally antibody troops always an antigen
Discolored figment under skin
Bright pigment from allergen
A red rash can dry with benzine
Yellowish splotch need carotene
Brownish bump harmless toxin
Black mole surely genetic origin
Benign cyst lacking needed vitamin
Purplish lesion can cure with Neosporin
Small lump only a gland that's swollen
Goiter rarely takes malignant spin
Working as a NY cop on three alternating shifts,
his wife at home with five little kids,
ranging in ages from 1 to 12,
his police boat up and down on the swells,
One week he'd have normal 8-4pm hours,
that's when he'd be happier and less dour,
following week his hours would be 4-12 midnight,
missed his kids but especially his wife,
But the midnight to 8am shift was the worst,
the graveyard shift being hard on his nerves,
being out in the winter time on the police boat,
thank God he had on him a nice thick police coat,
He worked hard on the marine bureau for 34 years,
carpooling with the same partner who was always near,
together they helped boaters who got stuck or sunk in the waves,
both of them strong swimmers who looked out and saved,
Finally retiring at the age of 55,
he and his wife thought they'd finally arrived,
moving down to Florida and taking it easy in Spring Hill,
for 15 years they were both relaxed and thrilled,
Then tragedy struck up in New York,
he lost to suicide one grandson who was distraught,
his wife desperately wanting to move back,
before he knew it they sold their home and were packed,
Not really wanting to move back he pleased his wife,
he just went along because she was the love of his life,
having diabetes he became more of a couch potato,
while in Florida he seemed to be more of on the go,
But he loved his family no matter what,
he settled in despite the feelings in his gut,
not caring for New York, the high prices or the weather,
he just went along to be a good husband, Dad and fellow,
Where he lived out his remaining 16 retired years,
his health steadily declining with melanoma he had little fear,
taking in stride what his doctors and hospice said,
preferring to die at home in his portable hospital bed.
11-6-16
(For JHL's 'Hauntings')
I tempt my fate with tree branches. Each and every night
I walk home from my bus stop as darkness drains the light.
I pass by St. John's Cemetery and shoot a wayward glance.
Ominous rows of tombstones bewitch me in a trance...
...
I see them: people resting, strangers from our world
in peace together side by side, in death a bond unfurls.
I picture souls of children who died before their time
from some forsaken circumstance, severing ties that bind;
Bind them to their bodies, their families and lives
only to contract melanoma at tender age of five.
Are these children angry? Will they come after me?
As here I stand upright and tall, full grown and healthy?
Do ghosts even exist? Can I ever be sure?
This hallowed ground, crowded yet empty, contaminated yet pure.
...
There's no way I can know for sure what lurks behind those gates,
but all these thoughts fill me with panic...I'm through with tempting fate.
My walk turns brisk and rapid, I shift my pace to run.
My run leads to a sprint, I pray the ghosts don't come...
My sprint gives to a dash, my feet can't find their grip
In darkness I am blinded, on a fallen branch I trip.
As the sun sets
A hot wind like this
Does not belong in downtown Lansing
But here it is
Speed-boating down the Grand River grinning and wearing Ray-Bans
My wife and I
We hold down our pouncing bouncing patio table
At the Waterfront Bar and Grill
As if we were airborne soldiers just landed
But still attached and tangled
To our thumping jumping parachutes
Strings of lightbulbs clattering like teeth above us
Hung from under the Friday night tent
96 degrees even as the day sinks to evening.
The river converts to beer and shots of whiskey.
The catfish are buzzed and jump for joy.
The four member rock band is amped up
With the addition of a mandolin
And plays the entire second side in order
From Led Zeppelin III
But replacing at the end Hats Off (To Roy Harper)
With Hey Hey What Can I Do? as one big set.
Who does that?
We notice there are well-known bartenders
Playing hooky from working anymore
At the drab and deadly chain restaurants
Back in the townships.
We should all follow their lead
And go on strike right now from the boredom of life
Everyone everywhere
Just quit and sit along the Grand River in this sparkling city
But the lead guitarist
He drinks his beers as fast as the crowd
And the bass guitarist tilts her instrument
Vertical to her shoulder
A mother soothing her baby’s back
Swaying her hips in melodic circles
While the drummer and the piano player try to catch up
On beat
So we sing along
Implanting our hands in the dough of air.
Jimmy Page is here.
Sitting alone.
Dressed in black.
Sipping from a tall glass of orange juice.
It’s too hot for flies
So lightning bugs twinkle to the sticky bottoms
Of emptied beer pitchers
Flickering on the table tops
To the night’s finale of Whole Lotta Love
Mixed at the end with Baba O’Riley.
Who does that?
All night
A friendly man at the table next to me
A union bus driver
Who bragged he’d worked enough overtime all year
To take PTO for the entire summer
Flicks his hand against my shoulder
(The same shoulder that has Melanoma growing on it)
Every time the band strikes the first chords
To another rare Zep
With the same look of
Can you believe it?
Apparently, I must have the same look.
Fighting Cancer of the Skin
By Franklin Price
8/12/2015
Fighting cancer of the skin
for me is number one;
whether from the war in Vietnam,
genetics or the Sun.
Doesn't really matter
Operate to keep ahead:
basal , squamous carcinoma;
no melanoma I am glad.
Plus forty years contending.
Burn and freeze and take a stitch.
Not the most fun thing I've done.
In fact, it really is a *****.
Doesn't really matter.
Very glad I'm here to say,
“Life is great I'm glad I'm in it,
keeping the alternative away.”
I've got the best of wives,
family and friends that can't be beat,
a paid for house and car to drive,
and look at me; enough to eat.
Thanking God for all I have
Some may think it is not much
It's more than many others;
can still see, and hear, and touch
Still walking on my own two legs
Brain is working still some tact
No artificial anything
I'm so happy, that's a fact.
If not for skin, my health is great
Better than most, my age, I've seen
Not longing for the other side
On my side the grass is green.
A melanoma in my fair skin
destroys my very dream
it leads me to screaming
then suddenly i'm crying
she couldn’t get a tan that would make the grade round prom time &
so off to the cancer cocoons she went,
cooking herself crisp &
as orange as barbecued chicken---
after the prom & all of the
comments on her appearance which
beef up her ego,
she decides that this look has to be the one that stays &
on & on
the routine continues throughout the year
cooking herself
until a perpetual nonhuman glow
emits from her body 24/7 &
at home, at night,
nobody needs a night light anymore,
because she can lead the way through the dark
like a light stick that has just been cracked
before being flung around at a rave---
inviting all the basal cell cancer, squamous cell
carcinoma & melanoma,
she goes to sleep displeased with her natural beauty,
bathed in a tangerine tint &
dreams of better days when she can walk in cali
with her head held high.
“i’m only happy when it rains,”
moans shirley manson when she’s backed by
butch vig & an orchestra of overdubbed
distorted guitars enhanced by sythensizers
a la trent reznor
the genius who is credited in garbage’s first album---
one doesn’t have to be a meteorologist to
think that she & her crew may be on to
something---
for the rain washes all the dirt away
the rain replenishes the earth so that it can sustain another day
when damaged endlessly by the
cruel
sun
scorching its surface & all the living things upon it
(during the spring and summer months especially, when all the idiots are
running round with nothing on & with no sunscreen, etc. to fend off
melanoma)---
the rain is what those unconventional people who
dwell in the shadows
feast on---
and who are these people?
they are the ones that choose not to smile when
everyone else does---
they are the ones that are not easily
amused---
they/we
are the ones that run out in the rainstorm &
dance naked in the cold wetness---
whipping our hair around in a rhythmic gesture
a middle finger in the air to any kind of
“creator”
that would shine its face down upon us all and
communicate
destruction with the poker face of
peace---
give us the rain when it comes
give us the floods
the hurricanes
the torrential downpour that accompanies it all
so that on the days that we aren’t struggling to swim
& struggling to float amidst the chaos
we understand how fortunate we are
to even be breathing---
so that our ever-complaining selves
die with the remnants of the wash-away
& you & i can wave goodbye to the old
selves
who thrived only for sun &
smiles
not understanding that in this pubic hair of a moment in which each of us
spend
together
on this beautiful planet
avec all the other plants & creatures who dwell with us,
that
we must savor every second
be it in sun or rain
and let it be known that the rain does so much for us
and yet is always pelted with insults & “evil” metaphor---
rain,
my friends,
is getting the bad rap---
and i don’t think i stand alone on the sideline campaigning---
there are thousands, albeit it
millions
marching for the rain to come
and keep our civilization
quenched---
news flash: without good ol’ h20 we are all dead as
doornails---
so stop worshipping the sun
&
give it up for the
rain.
Green Tea
Oh what joy it seems to me
Drinking my early morning tea.
The healthiest beverage on the globe
Cures many diseases I've been told.
Lemon juice in hot tea cures and prevents cancer I hear.
Drink for three months, before eating, and it will disappear.
Thousand times better than chemotherapy
Now how much better can that be.
It's the antioxidents that lowers the risk of cancer
Milk or sugar in tea? - No, that's the wrong answer.
Full of catechins, antioxidents. and polyphenols
Kills free radicals, bacteria and other ills.
Lowers the risk of Diabetes Type two
Improves insulin, triglycerides, and cell damage to name a few.
Reduces Cardiovascular Disease
By stopping cholesterol from oxidation that it sees.
Caffeine improves your brain and makes you smarter
Because dopamine and alpha waves work harder.
Helps you lose weight and body fat
Certainly can't complain about that.
Decreases the risk of early dying
Which makes it worth trying.
To enhance all of this try this trick I do
Add a pinch of powdered Cinnamon and Ginger too.
Here is something that cures melanoma, cancers, and is brand new.
Mix some dandelion root tea powder to really improve the brew.
Tell this all to your wife
And make green tea part of you life.