By Andrew Scott
PROMPT—No one noticed ...
She stretches her leg,
staring at the scare given to her
only a few months before.
It starts above the knee,
in the back of the leg,
down to the lower calf.
A reminder of the now
missing, spreading tumor.
She remembers this
scary part of life
as she gets ready to
stretch out the muscles
to walk upright, no limits.
Smiling, daring to be brave.
She looks in the mirror
and then down at her brush.
Hair clumps after chemo three.
She takes an electric razor
to shear what remains.
This is not her first time.
Her moving tumor had come back
after being away.
The same fear hits her.
How to tell the family
that it has creeped back.
Tears swell with every swipe of the hair.
She will fight as she did before.
Determined tears, daring to be brave.
He gets checked every year,
has since the age of forty,
since his father found it in his colon
and fell peacefully from finding it too late.
In his father’s name
he waits for the results,
breathless each time until the next time.
Checking, daring to be brave.
Andrew Scott is a native of Fredericton, NB, Canada. During his time as an active poet, Andrew has taken the time to speak in front of classrooms, judge poetry competitions, and has over 200 hundred writings published worldwide in such publications as The Art of Being Human, Battered Shadows, and The Broken Ones. He has published multiple poetry books including Snake with A Flower, The Phoenix Has Risen, The Path, The Storm Is Coming, Whispers of the Calm, Searching, and Letter To You and one book of photography, Through My Eyes. Redemption Avenue is his first novella. Learn more about Andrew at: andrewmscott.com