I’ve Workshopped A Lot Of Poetry, So Here’s A Poem

Death sucks but it seemed like it was all I could write about during my poetry workshop this semester (I promise I did actually write about other things once or twice though). Now that classes are over and I’ve given my poetry reading, I’ll be adding a few poems here and there. Here’s the first of a few:

The Week Cancer Took Your Hair

We bought pink boas

but got a blue for you

because, even though

pink is the color of breast cancer,

you hated that a charity far away

gave your pain a color.

Pink is the color of

bubblegum and baby

girls and your favorite

chapstick.

But when you woke up

last week with more of

your hair gone

the color pink was

the last thing on your mind.

So instead we got you a blue boa

and a silver plastic crown

and we all pretended that

our cries were of excitement

when the hairstylist

buzzed swirling patterns

into the remaining hair

on your head.

And we tried to have fun

just like Susan G. Komen

tried to make breast cancer

seem pink –

neither really works

but everyone pretends anyway.