Janet Ruth
The opposite of cancer is not benign.
Memory from childhood—a monster under the bed.
In the looking glass—our mirror images.
We seek a weapon to vanquish fear.
Together we name the monster under the bed.
Wild women with fierce determination,
armed to vanquish, we lift fear into the light.
That monster—terrible multiplication of cells.
Fierce women with wild determination—
all those faces of the women we love.
The monster—beastly mathematics of fear—
together we drag it from beneath the bed.
Here with us or in memory, the women we love.
With friends & family, medicine & prayer,
we drag our fear into the light
where it loses its power to reduce us.
Friends & family—their strong arms & hearts—
all of our faces illuminated in mirrors.
The beast reduced to a shadowy reflection.
The opposite of cancer is light.
Janet Ruth is a New Mexico ornithologist and poet. Her writing focuses on connections to the natural world. Her book Feathered Dreams was a 2018 NM/AZ Book Awards finalist. redstartsandravens.com/janets-poetry