I will read two poems from Inspired by Art: Olympic Authors & Artists: “Doors of Unknown Significance” and “Salmon Parent.” Many other poets published in this anthology will read as well.
This anthology includes ekphrastic poetry in response to talented local artists and photographers (including Olympic Peaks Camera Club). Their works have exhibited this year at Studio Bob’s, the Blue Whole Gallery, and Port Angeles Fine Arts Center.
On Saturday, Oct. 19, 2-4 p.m., at the Seattle Central Public Library (1000 Fourth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104) poets will read their poems about and take their stands against hate and bigotry.
My contribution will be “Stigmatized and Written Off,” a poem from my full-length (unpublished) cancer poetry memoir. This poem first published on OncoLink.com last month. It touches on the stigma of chronic or terminal disease.
Our culture glorifies youth and often stigmatizes the sick. We don’t deal well with death or the dying either. Oftentimes, cancer patients are dumped by friends and spouses. Also, they can be discriminated against, even by healthcare providers who make global assumptions based on cancer diagnosis. My poem brings these things to light.
Meanwhile, cancer patients are living. This diagnosis is different for each patient with specific circumstances of individuals. Plus, every human dies…we don’t know when. So what’s the deal with this type of discrimination and disempowerment? Let’s get real – disease happens, and to those who take good care of themselves too. A person isn’t a disease nor a disability. A person is a person is a person is a person.
Three close friends of mine opt out. The last thing said, It’s treatable right? Yesterday I read an athlete obit, Younger man dies in a kayak accident. So alive was he, everyone in shock, His abrupt memorial packed no doubt. But what of those who linger on?
Letting go is a large lesson In life and death facing. There’s almost an inward scoff, No more energy for outward response To those unconsciously saying, Sorry that you’ve got cancer cells Running all over your body, Or, So, you’re going to do the Killing yourself thing to live. Yes, these things are said. Surprised? By ignorance, False confidence, in a culture That worships youth and wealth? Well, I don’t plan to die just yet – Is that okay with you? And not every subsequent health issue Is another cancer—Sorry, Does this disappoint your need To assume that for me it’s all over?
I’m folding myself into poetry batter, Yes, writing myself in For whatever time I have to spend, And with those friends who Will have me outlive them. Dumped due to an impending death – You’re damn right I care about that. Aren’t we all headed that way? Most don’t deny and set me aside. I thank God for this every day.
I am proud that a new poetry series based on my unpublished manuscript is appearing on OncoLink, the Net’s first cancer information website. This site is associated with Penn Medicine and provides information to patients, caregivers and medical staff internationally. One handy feature is a thorough database of cancer meds, what they do and their possible side effects.
My poems appear on their Creative Inspiration page under Patients: Support and in a dedicated section, Poetry That Fits. This title suggests my authentic poetic responses to the situations and emotions I have faced as well as the sardonic irreverent tone that is often necessary. Spirituality and hope are undercurrents yet I don’t hide the grit, the fits.
My first poem has published this week and five more, one per week, will post in this set. I hope that those with cancer, and those who care for and about them, will find validation, healing, resonance, and further understanding of this unique stressful experience in our culture.
I wrote most of my poems in real time–as incidents, thoughts and emotions unfolded–then edited them into a full-length poetry memoir about the two years following a diagnosis of a plasmacytoma tumor then progression to multiple myeloma. Every time I reread my book, I underline the importance of present-minded living for myself and review the wisdom this challenge has taught me… is still teaching me.
You may relate having navigated a different turnpike. I hope these poems offer solace and company through your own traumatic events and uninvited adaptations. None of us are isolated in our struggles when we share, listen and find common ground.
Reading of “The More Moments I Find Prismatic, the Less Dark My Attic.”
The order of this first segment of poems will appear as follows:
“The More Moments I Find Prismatic, The Less Dark My Attic”
“The First Axe Falls”
“Stigmatized and Written Off”
“Looking Out, Looking In”
“I Don’t Have All the Answers”
“I Can’t Go Back”
If you would like to find out more about my unpublished full-length manuscript, fill out the form below and click, Contact Us. Currently, I am entering my book into contests and submitting it to small presses for possible publication.
My poem, “Contrast,” was selected to exhibit in the 2024 Poetry in the Park in Webster Woods of the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. The theme was “Colorization,” and how what humans place in Nature affects our responses to and experiences in Nature. One aspect of this marriage, a negative one, has stood out to me late winter into spring – the contrast of naturally occurring white color against green (stark beauty) and trash on the drive between my house in Olympic National Park and Port Angeles, especially along the curvy drive next to magnificent Lake Crescent.
So, this could be considered an ecopoem as well as a witness poem. I hope it brings attention to locals and visitors how litter detracts from our outdoor experiences, even as we drive, and encourages behavioral change. I have never lived in a place with this level of disregard and disrespect for the land in the form of littering. I hate to criticize, however, perhaps locals have become blind to this issue. I discovered that the Park Service plans a clean-up along Hwy 101 next to Park property. They will have to close areas of the road to safely do this. Perhaps then, there may be an effort of other clean-ups along the highway.
Lake Crescent from Log Cabin Resort. By Laura E. GarrardSnowdrops, by Laura E. Garrard.Trilliums, by Laura E. Garrard.Vanilla Leaf, by Laura E. Garrard.Olympic Range, by Laura E. Garrard.
I am reading my published poem, “My Mother’s Parents Free Ranged,” along with other Cookbook authors at the Olympic Peninsula Authors’ open mic-night, February 16, at 6 p.m. There is also a Zoom livestream!
The evening will begin with the special journal readings, then followed by an open-mic.
The location: 609 W. Washington Street at KSQM in the SE corner of the Sequim Village Shopping Center.
Other writers are welcome to read their work following the special readings. Readings are timed to 5 minutes per author, and you may read prose, poetry, fiction, or nonfiction.
Poetry In Time 