POETRY | ILLUMINATION

Diagnosis: Meningioma

There is no such thing as a benign beast

I see you are back again my dearly, demented friend I never asked you to return never thought you’d have the gall to face me like before but then you aren’t — facing me no, like the coward you are you are behind me, hidden slowly encroaching upon my life an eight-year journey to here

Your last arrival was fast and furious I witnessed your growing mass felt the crushing blow to my gut and the constant drip drip drip as your fierce anger ripped my womb during the extraction of you and then the months of chemicals that stripped away my pride and hammered away my dignity all to be forever rid of you

And yet, here you are again probably benign, the doctor says but I’ve felt your invasion for years You’ve made camp at my skull’s base bore down upon my spine — with migraines and vertigo so intense and the weakness of my lower limbs How can anyone call you benign? I know you will wreak more havoc before I force you to let go

©2021 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.

Lori Carlson writes Poetry, Fiction, Articles, Creative Non-Fiction, and Personal Essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Nature, Loss, Death, and the LGBTQ+ community. She is the Owner/Editor of Promptly Written and Not For Bedtime Stories. Check out her personal Medium blog here.