Category: Featured Authors

outpatient poem by judith evans

Outpatient [a poem]

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By Judith Evans | Featured Contributor

Heavy steps through the clinic door.
Scores of faces, waiting room eyes
Follow my feet to the check-in desk.
Finally, a space for my face near the water cooler.

18 minutes of freedom, wishing our dog were here.
I dream, screaming silently till I hear my name.

Dead down the hall: sterile chairs, swabs, lidocaine,
Blood draw, raw nerves, tsk tsk near the back of my head.
Are you in pain? As if I were deaf.
No space for my face any more.

Meanwhile, it’s snowing.
Will this freeze cease?

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then and now poem Afghanistan by Anabel

Then & Now [a poem]

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By Anabel Geneta-Raymundo | Featured Contributor

Author’s Note: This is a poem illustrating the situation of many of our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan.

***

Teasing. Playing. Children laughing.
Planting. Caring. Mothers preaching.
Resting. Working. Fathers sweating.
Dreaming. Relishing. People trying.

Growing. Reaching. Afghans thriving.
Living. Loving. ‘til Taliban’s coming.
Now hiding. Panicking. Borders closing.
Looking. Waiting. Others escaping.

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kintsugi linda M Wolfe story pancreatic cancer

Feeling Broken from Our Son’s Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis: Linda’s Story

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By Linda M. Wolfe | Featured Contributor

Have you ever felt broken? What are some possible scenarios which may make a person feel broken? Do you think it could be a frightening health diagnosis? Could it be losing one’s job or home? What about coping with the loss of a loved one? Could it be the loss of a relationship or a business? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. How many people do you know seem to lead a perfect life? There are quite few, if any, who have never had a factor which could potentially cause one to feel broken. It is part of being human.

Kintsugi pancreatic cancer story

The tipping point which threatened to shatter my life was our son’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis. All I could think of was the horrifically short life expectancies of people who have received this diagnosis. He had already experienced two years of symptoms prior to this. Our son was only thirty-one years old when he was diagnosed. It can be devastating to lose a family member, particularly from the younger generation. Initially, I lost my desire to eat and my ability to sleep. Pounds as well as hair began to break away from my body.

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