Relapse

The second chapter, Relapse, is poems written about Arlen’s second round of chemo. The news of his relapse was so devastating I feared I would never write a poem again. Some original drafts I found I had no memory of writing. The chapter, in a sense, conveys the haze of a day in the hospital, returning home late, and getting ready for another day of the same. There is very little heroism left— now it is just a grind.