RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 10:50 AM
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The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Sun 12/21/2008) |
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At the Cancer Clinic
She is being helped toward the open door that leads to the examining rooms by two young women I take to be her sisters. Each bends to the weight of an arm and steps with the straight, tough bearing of courage. At what must seem to be a great distance, a nurse holds the door, smiling and calling encouragement. How patient she is in the crisp white sails of her clothes. The sick woman peers from under her funny knit cap to watch each foot swing scuffing forward and take its turn under her weight. There is no restlessness or impatience or anger anywhere in sight. Grace fills the clean mold of this moment and all the shuffling magazines grow still.
Ted Kooser
*************
:hi:
RL
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blueraven95
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Sun Dec-21-08 10:58 AM
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I've lost a couple close family friends to cancer in the last few months, one of which I really thought would make it, and this poem is actually making me cry. Sorry, that's probably not what you want to hear with your current situation. :hug:
I wish this poem gave the ill woman more...something...I can't quite find the word for - vitality, maybe? All the cancer-stricken people I have known are so wonderfully alive, even as they are fading away. I'm not sure I'm getting it quite right, but it's the best I can do. :cry:
:hug:
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RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:06 AM
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There is no restlessness or impatience or anger anywhere in sight. Grace fills the clean mold of this moment and all the shuffling magazines grow still.
I think grace is what I would want...
:hug:
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blueraven95
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:16 AM
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you are right...grace is what everyone hopes for I think, at least a bit.
:hug:
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RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:35 AM
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I would take "so wonderfully alive" too.
:hug:
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blueraven95
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:54 AM
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I have a really good feeling about your mom. I think she's going to be fine. :hug:
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Tuesday Afternoon
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:23 AM
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Edited on Sun Dec-21-08 11:59 AM by Tuesday Afternoon
:hi:
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RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:36 AM
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Tuesday Afternoon
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Mon Dec-22-08 12:10 AM
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Dystopian
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:37 AM
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There is no restlessness or impatience or anger anywhere in sight. Grace fills the clean mold of this moment and all the shuffling magazines grow still. Retro, somehow I knew what this poem would be about before I clicked....although I could have been wrong.
I remember bringing my mother...and sitting there during her chemo. I dusted off two old books that somehow I never had the time to read during my 'busy' life. For Whom the Bell Tolls and To Kill a Mockingbird....I started the biography of Malcolm X, and from several years back, I recall the page folded over where I ended.
Blessings and love to you and your family. And the words of my dear elderly Quaker friend and mentor: Hope. Patience. Peace. :hug:
peace~
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RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:39 AM
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Callalily
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:39 AM
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considering the circumstances.
Please don't forget tough bearing of courage part.
:hug:
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RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 11:40 AM
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CaliforniaPeggy
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Sun Dec-21-08 02:04 PM
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12. This is so beautiful, my dear Retro... |
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Courage to your mom...and you...
:hug:
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RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 02:35 PM
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lizziegrace
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Sun Dec-21-08 02:18 PM
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My friend Susan, who's only a year or two older than us. She's my hero and I tell her every time I talk to her.
:hug:
Nice choice for today Retro. There's hope here...
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RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 02:35 PM
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RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 04:47 PM
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Chorophyll
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Sun Dec-21-08 09:08 PM
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What an amazing poem. I've been a reader at a literary magazine for the past year, and I've seen my share (unfortunately) of cancer poems, but none quite like this one. It captures such a small moment so beautifully.
Abundant vibes to RetroMom. Tell her she has the full support of the DU Lounge.
:hug: :hug: :hug:
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RetroLounge
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Sun Dec-21-08 10:36 PM
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