The Elephant in the Room is Cancer. Tea is the Relief Conversation Provides.

Poems

Our Herd submits poems that help them get through the day when fighting cancer. Some are inspiring while others are just to express how they are feeling.

Want to submit a post? Click Here.

I Walked A Thousand Miles

by Rachel Vinciguerra June 25, 2024

I walked a thousand miles away from home—
IV stands and frozen steps
Dicarbozene and overcast skies
With you, the uninvited.

Read More...

Darkest Hours

by Amelia Ruiz May 28, 2024

A year away in California, a dream unfolding
Training, motivated, hungry for College
In the best shape of my life, smiling and at peace
Life crashes down, sickness strikes at twenty

Read More...

Finding Solace in Survivorship

by Joely Serino May 9, 2024

She protected me,
The day’s events could’ve rocked my world,
Could’ve broken me down beyond repair,
But she protected me.

Read More...

Deciduous: A Poem for Processing Chemo Hair Loss

by Erin Miller February 15, 2024

This year, I get to be deciduous.

Drop my cells to the floor, prep the soil for this post-traumatic growth that I’m sowing.

Read More...

I am Not A Soldier

by Sarah Ammerman January 17, 2024

You call me warrior, but I do not receive that title
I am a survivor, I am a mother, I am a friend
I am not a soldier

Read More...

Storm of Words

by Hail H. Quackenbush January 9, 2024

Woody Guthrie cried out
into the rising dust,
singing,
“I’ve heard a storm
of words in me” ––
A storm of words…

Read More...

Prayers

by Sandy Azzam May 26, 2023

Prayers work wonders
Yet sometimes
They also make you wonder
Why sometimes
They are just not heard

Read More...

I Left Her Behind

by Lianne Twohig April 28, 2023

I left her behind.
It wasn’t my decision.
I miss her.
Not one day goes by that I don’t think of her.

I close my eyes and she’s there.
I think she’s imperfectly beautiful.
Easy on my eyes, if only in my eyes.

Read More...

My Life. The Comet.

by Rachel Becker April 25, 2023

Before cancer, writing wasn’t something I enjoyed. It was a chore. Something I did at work or for school. Much like all things I dislike, I avoided it. Then, when I was at my lowest point, writing found me. Pushed me to pick it up, toss my feelings out, and move ahead. Finding community during treatment was intimidating for me.

Read More...

A Toast to My Twenties

by Alyssa Stein April 6, 2023

a toast to my twenties

at twenty years young, my friends piled into my car until every seat and lap were occupied and we drove until the odometer hit 100,000 miles in virginville, pennsylvania.

twenty-one was spent bar hoping with my uncle until the night ended with my head in my grandparent’s kitchen sink.

twenty-two was the year i graduated, moved, started over, and fell in love.

Read More...