The Little Things
When your life is in the balance,
it’s strange which pills are often the hardest to swallow.
Not the daily reminders of mortality.
Not the toxic medication dumped into your veins.
Not the surgeries that empty cavities and rearrange vessels.
It’s the hangnail.
The split lip.
The itching of nerveless skin.
The little things matter.
The Little Things
When your life is in the balance,
it’s strange which pills are often the hardest to swallow.
Not the daily reminders of mortality.
Not the toxic medication dumped into your veins.
Not the surgeries that empty cavities and rearrange vessels.
It’s the hangnail.
The split lip.
The itching of nerveless skin.
The little things matter.
The Hairy Truth
“Cancer treatment makes me
want to pull my hair out!”
I said as I yanked out giant clumps.
I laughed. My visitor gasped.
What I didn’t tell him:
That morning, as I showered, my five-year-old
carefully laid a paper towel at the edge of the tub
so I could place my fallen hair upon it.
