Forget the Scenic Route | Cancer Poem



The last line of this poem is from a sentence that our oldest daughter—then a preschooler—said when we were on long-distance car ride one summer to see family. I wrote this poem on the 56th day after my diagnosis when I found out I would be facing another surgery.

Forget the Scenic Route

I want to take a shortcut on this journey, forget
the scenic route, forget
stopping for photographs, forget
getting out to stretch my legs, I want
to arrive
at my destination of wholeness, instead

I find myself waiting
at terminals
with other anxious people, getting on bumpy
flights that take me one step
closer to my destination, but it doesn’t feel
like it.

I am on an endless
ride to nowhere
with the pilot announcing,
Buckle up. There’s turbulence
ahead.
I want to get on a There Plane.

What's one thought you had when you found out you'd be facing an expected cancer treatment?

Photo courtesy of Tim Gouw.

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