Some First Thoughts on Cancer

Some First Thoughts on Cancer

I wish I could take it out with a tweezer, a Dustbuster. I wish I could vacuum over it with the 1990s beast you used on our living rooms for decades, leaving fresh lines in its wake. I wish I could throw it in the washer and line dry it, like you do with our bed sheets. I wish I could treat it like a grass stain.

I wish I could eradicate it with kind words. I wish I could peel it off like a sticker, scrub it out like a pop stain on a carpet. I wish I could flush it. I wish I could make it laugh and go home.

I wish I could boil it, bake it, throw it out a window. I wish I could take it to the curb. I wish I could drive it to sleep away camp and never pick it up.

I wish I could tell it who you are and what you’ve done, and all the years you’ve put into making everything better. I wish there were a label for you, that said untouchable.