deepundergroundpoetry.com
Dad the Warrior
march 15th was a terrible day
to wake up on
with a headache..
mom called again
second time in eight hours
(that can't be good)
with this headache
your dad's biopsy results are back
he's gone to work now
i thought you should know
before he calls tonight
it is…. cancer
i can’t remember the rest
maybe a few sobs
from her end
probably responded
with the required
comforting words
in autonomic mumbles
it’s all a blur
gone off to work!
on a day like this
that's why i respected him
why i still respect him
my Himalayan father of a man
nothing could bring him down
can't remember a time he took time off
for the flu, for his disc prolapse
even when admitted aeons ago
for a hernia repair
he worked that day over the phone
till he went under
seeing him on a hospital bed
that evening, still stranded
in medicinal stupor
covered by those awful
hospital bed sheets
my mom reading a book next to him
between prayers
answering calls from nosy well wishers
the stench of antiseptics
barely bridled by
the piles of somber flowers
that could knock one over
with just a breath
i cried that day
but not on march 15th
i had a headache
i had things to do
i had to study
i had an exam in 3 days
and book loads of crap to read
i tried to get some work done
but the word cancer
formed on every page
on the screen
with words that started with c
and words that didn't
i gave up
googled prognosis
this bad day was getting worse
my headache decided
to give me a break
i was going numb
felt nothing
turned the phone off
signed out of Skype
and tried to read
on TURP
Goserelin vs Buserelin
morbidity and mortality rates
figures, statistics, grades, and stages
cryptic terms that
decorated the truth in a fancy package:
despite the facts, the ‘researches’,
no one knew for sure
how the fuck to fight it
psychic predictions with
MD stamped at the end of credentials
roulette veterans that
played odds in hospitals
the headache was coming back
a welcome distraction this time
as two asymmetrical paths
marked down my face
brimming with
my unacknowledged thoughts
extracts of my blues
the clock on the screen read
March 16th 2011 1:00 AM...
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