heckyeahemilyregan:

My body turned a cold back on me, at less than forty-three 

It started a war

whatever for

in the middle of the middle of my life

it rose a black dividing mass

in my ovaries, alas

and growing fast

what was the point

a childish attempt

to eat me alive and wreck the count

my spirit strives to hold the fort

shaking its fist at each report

this is a shame, days

spending my life in bed on my back

in the middle of the middle of my life.

I can see roses in front of my hedge

with the doctors pinned on their petal ledges

and nurses too and you and love and “alive” scribbled not far above

(source: her autobiography “It’s Always Something)

(I bolded words that jumped out at me)