pre-op
the nurse?writes yes
on my breast

13 Responses

  1. seretta Says:

    Tinywords is a delight. Thank you!

  2. Lynne Says:

    Such a delicate and subtle haiku that plays with fear, desire, and hope. Lovely.

  3. Rick Hartwell Says:

    Eloquent and haunting.

  4. h gene murtha Says:

    Every now and then you will read a poem,
    and your heart stops, your lungs no longer
    work and you cannot breath.

  5. RosanneGP Says:

    My experience in reading this exactly. Thank you for saying it so well, both of you.

  6. Alan Summers Says:

    We hear about so many mistakes about labelling which part to operate on, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that yes means yes.

    I like unresolved haiku as life isn't always neatly resolved, so why should a poem tell us everything.

    A good contemporary haiku.

    Alan, With Words

  7. seaviewwarrenpoint Says:

    Striking.

  8. Brandon Bordelon Says:

    "Yes" is the one-word poem we recite with our every breath, with every beat of our heart.

    In this haiku, the nurse's "yes"–a medical precaution–transforms into the patient's "yes"–a bold affirmation of life in the face of death.

    Pure poetic alchemy.

  9. Jeffrey Winkw Says:

    Wow….. very powerful!

  10. haikuapprentice Says:

    Oh Theresa, thank you for sharing this most powerful and uplifting haiku!

    For me, poetry and medicine are both expressions of spirituality, manifesting concretely the human desire to live, to transcend nature's "given", to refashion reality as meaning-ful.

    You have literally bared your breast in this poem, defying illness with an emphatic affirmation for life! And in this work, whatever the outcome of that operation, you have actually triumphed over disease, you have overcome mortality!

    Blessings to you!

    Strider

  11. MaryLou Dempler Says:

    Perfect!!!! If a picture is worth a thousand words, this haiku of tiny powerful and thought provoking words, is worth a million
    I hope the surgery went well and you have a quick recovery.

  12. Theresa Pappas Says:

    Thank you all for your comments and blessings. The surgery did go well (years ago), and I'm still here.

  13. karin rosenkranz Says:

    beautifull haiku
    best regards.

Leave a Reply