October 2015
Family is very important to me. In fact, my chapbook Hello, it's Your Mother (Finishing Line Press, October 2015) is about my sometimes tumultuous relationship with my mother and how I came to terms with this as I cared for her while she was dying. I learned an important lesson: we all do the best we can. Live your life, live and let live. Please visit me at http://lauriekolp.com.
On Getting a Mammogram
Authors Note: The part in italics is from the song "I Will Survive" by the late Donna Summer
She kneads my breast
flattens it like bread dough
pulls out the crust
and plops it on the counter
like a fresh morning treat.
S-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s it out of shape
presses cool plates together
StIcKy fingers she finagles away
says to FREEZE
and my friend’s singing...
I Will Survive
I will survive
As long as I know how to Love
I know I'll be alive
...center stage last October,
but she didn’t. Survive.
I inhale, exhale
and freeze.
-first published at TUCK Magazine
©2015 Laurie Kolp