Wormfood
By Vernita Hall
The worm of doubt now tunnels deep within
a metastatic burrow. There begins
a metronomic timer, ticking loud.
(I visualize a bomb and mushroom cloud.)
ARTISTIC EXPRESSION can provide a unique means of understanding, communicating, and even healing from the experience of illness. Forward thanks the many contributors who generously shared their work for the debut of “Channels,” a forum intended to honor and showcase visual and written art inspired by experiences with cancer.
Deathwatch Poems
By Arlene Bernstein
Her voice
is stuck
stopped in its tracks…
Forgiving the Anger of a Cancer Chick
By Kathy Chapman
Kathy Chapman created this linocut as part of a handmade book, Forgiving the Anger of a Cancer Chick, designed to help her voice her anger…
Looking At It
By Adrienne M. Jenness
I look at a naked me in the mirror
and what do I see?
A not bad face, still attractive I’m told.
A body somewhat crumpled by the aging process
and decorated, excoriated by surgeons’ knives.
Men in Spikes
By Glenn R. McLaughlin
“Is the dress really sparkly?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact it is” as I fingered the five-inch Steve Madden spike heel in my right hand, standing in the shoe line at Nordstrom Rack, her behind me and two other women in front. “My wife and I bought it off the deep discount large size rack the other night.”
planting acorns—fairmount park
By Lynn Hoffman
the pain came back, big, dull, personal.
it returned to the old neighborhood
and moved in next door to
where it used to live…