Tripping the Light Fantastic *
Just when I thought it was
safe to come out
as a Crone,
my body cried out,
“Guess again!”
And I have to grow anew
from this altered place.
New things to do: VATS Lung Biopsy,
high-frequency Chest Wall Oscillation.
New words to learn,
with stumbling-over-themselves
consonants of medical lingo, disease jargon: fibrosis,
noncaseating granulomas,
Sarcoidosis,
incurable.
Grief is not linear, thank God. Grief is a bittersweet
dance around the room.
I am my own partner.
Little by little, I learn not to step on my gamboling feet.
*“Tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New York.”
–James W. Blake, “The Sidewalks of New York” (1908)