Gentle Reminder, by Mary Mulvihill, July 2002

Oh,my!

I had forgotten

Until the towel slipped.

It hasn't even been a year!

It is tiny.

Most will never see it.

I usually don't.

I didn't have a choice

Of color or design.

But

The placement was determined

By computer body mapping

And red laser beams.

It is one blue-black dot.

I refer to it

As my tattoo,

But

For the radiation therapists

It was the bar code

For the placement

Of the treatments

That, I hope,

Will prevent a reoccurrence.

Somehow

The uneven stitches

Of the happy-face scar

Don't alarm me.

They will fade into the landscape

With two previous ones That didn't rate tattoos.

For now,

I am cancer-free,

But

Still in denial.

Have you had your mammogram?

Back