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Horde

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Today is my mother’s birthday

She would be in her nineties, now

She died in her fifties

Cancer got her

Got inside my father, too

Is inside my brother

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I could swear, but calling it

A bastard doesn’t matter

Cancer doesn’t care

It simply comes to cells and changes

Them so that they’re not good

Anymore

Like turning faithful into infidels

Except, again, cancer isn’t interested

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As far as we know

It has no soul

It simply ruins everything

And we can’t cure it yet

Though there are treatments

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Hard, difficult,

Life-changing treatments

Not like quinine (vitamin C) for scurvy

Not like the shots

That kept and keep

Polio and small pox away

Cancer treatments are harsh and

Guarantee nothing

The cancer might not go away

It might go away

And then come back

Survivors have success stories

But we are so far from

Eradication

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We should include a clause in every

Contract, every negotiation

Domestic, international

A commitment to take part

In eliminating

Cancer

With ongoing maintenance,

A best and last campaign

Into whatever hell

Is fit for plagues

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C L Couch

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

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