Short Chemo Poems

no need after chemo
       a pink lacy bra...

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she drinks too much wine
chemo has been kind to her
she’s seen her child wed...

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Crutched like so many sheep
in a paddock
surgery,chemo or rays
the hoped for recovery
or hastened decay....

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You lost a part of you that horrid day
Also chemo took its toll
‘Only the cancer died’.

© Harry J Horsman 2018...

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the chemo…the cancer…the fungus,
bowel obstruction, pneumonia…
all joined hands, 
in a macabre can-can to kill her.

5/25/2022...

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When lifting hair was not a crime
Tonto was ahead of his time
He saw a bald Ranger
Whose mask made him stranger 
A real pandemic paradigm!...

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chemo waiting room
patients eat saltines
from a candy dish



Published in Bottle Rockets #42 2020

AP: Honorable Mention 2021

Posted on October 25, 2018...

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Comfort
Can you name it?
To me it’s a bathroom floor
It cools an aching body
Till I must succumb once more

Mdailey	5/20/11

The side effects of chemo are real!...

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Abdominal pain and nausea this day
Thoughts run wild, gallbladder or
Stomach cancer~chemo  

Sponsor: Amy Green
Contest: Let's Try A Little Kimo...

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After first injection, hair started to thin
Eyelash and eyebrows cut to the root
Nothing left but patches of bare skin
But personality was acute

Copyright © 2011 By Caryl S. Muzzey...

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My therapy is chemical,
I go for weekly sessions.
My artery is femoral.
The site of my injection.

The venom attacks 
the mitosis of my splitting cell.
Dyspepsia takes over,
like a spinning carousel....

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Titian tresses tumble
as do her tears
I’ll save on hairdressing costs
she says with a watery smile

BITE SIZE POEM no 29 Poetry Contest

Sponsored by Line Gauthier

12/10/21...

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The endless waiting burns into my brain
Every tick of the clock drives me insane
Life washes away with each wave of pain
My sorrow will not let me feel again
My resolve is broken; nothing left to gain
Let death come for me, no need to remain...

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A cameo-
  after the chemo.
Are you sure, it was a tumor.

          *

    A black hole
 in my bones, gulping 
    all the pain.

          *

    You were buried 
alive in the wall of patches.
    Stitch by stich.


Satish Verma...

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childhood disrupted
by a fight against cancer
changed a young girl's life

chemo and amputation
renewed her for all to love

June 13, 20112
Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen

Written for Poetry Soup Member Contest:  Cantankacerous
Sponsored By:  Joann Grisetti...

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Wanted to touch you again
Your face
Your smile
Kiss your lips
Hold you close
Feel your softness
Again

Fourteen years--
Chemo
Radiation 
Took you away from me--

I held you close  
Limbs- frail
Face- radiant
Eyes deep dark 
And then nothing--...

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A physical, some lumps, mammography, biopsies 

Chemo, radiation, surgery, side effects 

Near the edge, the strength, the will, sprouting back to life

The scars, a gift, a miracle, a testimony, reflects


Njeri Hunjeri 
Sponsor Name Poet Destroyer A
Contest Name PINKTOBER #2...

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10 years ago today,
I remember our fallen warrior.
In my heart,
You were a soldier.
Rounds of Chemo,
Countless surgeries.
You faced it head on.
Remission, was your peacetime,
But war is never ending.
You may have lost the battle with cancer,
But fought, with everything you had....

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One more chemo left. 
Two more full moon I will see
Three kids still in school. 

last three months, life will cut short.
one heart, two eyes, I pledge, to support. 


resubmitted to May Premiere contest of Brian Strand 
Dated 4th March 2019
Charlekucoup contest of Charles Messina
PLACED THIRD IN CONTEST...

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When love grows cold
Puzzled and confused we grieve
Like a malignancy spreads
Deadly deception
Manifests astounds derails
Emotions self-pride riot
Rushing into defense mode

Like chemo exhausts
Worn drained the storm clouds gather
Advice abundant
Blind dates rejected
Remission slowly ensues
Indifference born...

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Trotting along;fighting death – 
with delaying techniques.
Chemo had failed.

Weeping Ashoka, how do I
name you differently ?
I may not see you again.

I am hurt, very badly.
Absolutely rooted, firmly
in autumn. My leaves were falling.

Pushing back the interface 
between smiles and tears;
the trespasser goes to moon.

It was traditional,
garlanding the poet-
who had killed his muse.




Satish Verma...

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lab results positive-
             living with cancer made
                       less sense than her dying
                       lethargic from chemo-
              laughing in remission, 
                    Leanne was now cancer free!
                           Lord saved her soul from death…



*The name Leanne is ONE syllable according to howmanysyllables.com*

Pleiades L
April 14, 2017...

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nurses come to top off my cup,

the coffee and poison mingle

in the air and on my tongue,

she draws the curtain,

moans next door persist,

snow falls outside the window,

the ground pure white,

trees naked and swaying,

like the grass beneath,

the people huddled inside,

waiting for crackers and another hot cup,

and for the coming spring,

the first green bud peaking from the death of snow...

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bald child
smiling
for a paper crane

nightly
prays for others

the sun to her
is everyday
and smiling

and mightily
she smiles
after every chemo

stoic hide
tries to hide
her child why's
and whimpers

'cuz smiling 
is more her style

and i
search for words
not smiling

what do you-
how to say-
tell a little child
her momma
has gone away
        gone home
and little girl
you're all alone...

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Chemo War 2 (some months ago)

So many months of toxic love? and radiation,
 meds, destroying disfigured foes
collaterial danage as useful cells die
and badly burnt in chemical
and radiant heat, I am drained and pale
my hair thinned, my skin  red and raw
this is the final fight, the battles’ at an end, 
the last scars formed, last viens pricked
tap tap tapping of the MRI with me alone
life seems now too heavy a chore...

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