"Tropic of Cancer"

My poem, “Tropic of Cancer,” was a runner-up in this year’s St. Louis Poetry Center’s Nash Contest.

Several years ago, I got the news I had prostate cancer. I had a radical prostatectomy. The pathology report said there were cancer cells at the margin of what they removed, a sign some might have escaped.

I get tested every six months. So far, I’m okay. I used to call the doctor’s office immediately for results. Now, I often forget to call at all.

This poem is about my journey from my biopsy results until now. I question a fading intimacy, immediacy, and wonder whether I’ve become too blasé.

The contest judge wrote the following about the poem:

“The central metaphor of this poem – the poet compares the onset of illness to a typhoon – is rendered with precision and fine dramatic control, in lines like ‘…there’s a nascent smell of rain / and flying fish move in an arc away.’ In the hands of a lesser poet, this conceit might have exhausted itself, but here, it is continually made fresh through the candor of the poet’s voice, and through the inventive use of language. Bravo!”