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Poetry Page
On Valentine’s Day, 2006, I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system.
The poem below is from Riddance, my forthcoming book of poems about treatment for cancer, my remission from it, and my slow return to health since.
Riddance will be published by Worple Press in September 2012.
Tumour by Anthony Wilson
You gave me time to notice –
apple blossom, hand movements,
the light taking leave of rooms.
I would like to claim
new attention to my children
but the truth is they grew up
whether I watched them or not.
Mostly I slept.
You began in midsummer.
It took till February to find you.
By then all I knew were symptoms:
insomnia, night sweats, a cough I could not shake off.
Because of you I revisited old LPs –
I did not want to die
not having fried onions to Grover,
made bubbles to This Mortal Coil.
The script writers of Frasier
helped me recover from you,
plus condensed milk and broccoli –
though not at the same time.
Eventually I drank coffee again.
You reacquainted me with my guilt –
the way I glared at S
after she’d poured out her heart
in the autumn of endless nights
with nothing but the wind for company.
I chose songs, having you,
and invented ceremonies by rivers.
(But I found no poetry in you.)
You saved me from talking about house prices.
You obliterated my craving for alcohol.
I would say I am grateful
but am not ready for that, just yet.
from Riddance (Worple Press, 2012)
Check out Anthony's website here
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