"Cure Day"

In working film for CBC
I’d asked reporter’s view of me.
“Quite gullible of fact”, said she –
 “Just like I also used to be –
Till three nights running gave my act
And said some stuff that wasn’t fact
To twenty thousand folks who heard
And saw distortions through my word –
So soon I learned to push through lore –
And after that, ask even more.”

I thought “that’s fine for what you do,
But facts don’t factor what I do –
Folks want re-framing of their lives
So fact or fancy, truth or lies –
Get re-arranged, then analyzed
The disproportions are resized –
A life reframed which they could be
Once new perspective they can see…

“You’re clear”, he said, “no snitch remains
Of cancer cells” – bad talk then blames
For long confusion all last fall
When I’d been pushed against that wall
Of non-engagement with the facts,
And doctor’s strange discrepant acts.

He left us stunned, said, “Happy be,
Your cancer early did we see,
So worry less, contented be
That we your guardians care for thee.”

I spun out from that office drear
My thoughts a-kimble – far from clear
And spread his words to those held dear
And then I read his paper near –

My heart collapsed as I read on
How his fine words had been a song
Of what he’d heard from CT scan
But didn’t jibe with CT man
And now I’d spoken far too soon
Raised high my glass to toast the moon
For all it mattered to the facts
That faced me now that I’d relaxed.

One called it “cure day” with my name
But cancer goes on just the same –
Or not, perhaps – it’s just not known
If cancer’s spread like seeds re-sown
In places far from bowel home –
My gut still hurts – the cause unknown.

But right it is – my cure day, here
Though cancer’s not the point, that’s clear
It’s “gullible” the thing now gone
While life is opening with a song
Of freedom in each passing day
Like flower unfolding in sun’s ray –

For as I take up life at last
And bid farewell to stormy blast,
I’ll choose which way the road I’ll bend
From now until my days shall end
They had their chance and passed it up
It’s my turn now – no longer stuck.

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