cancer is somebody's mother

dying in a hospital gown. cancer
is ben franklin's lightning strike
darwin's origin of the species,
cancer's the last one standing
on survivor. everything

causes cancer (at this point)
and then we die - or else

live on, stockings stuffed
with drugs, radiation,
spouses wear lead scarves

just to kiss the sunken cheeks
of somebody's mother, somebody's
dad

dying in a hospital gown.