RADIOTHERAPY INFLICTED cancer poem in online poetry collection

This poem deals with the experience of undergoing radiotherapy. In the author's case, the radiation was produced by a linear accelerator, a machine which cooks up radiation using one sole ingredient: electricity. The machine does not contain a radioactive source, and, therefore, cannot be a source of radioactivity. A very sweet piece of technology.

This poems speaks of the smell of radiation and speaks, also, of its color.

The beam of hard radiation generated by the linear accelerator ionizes air, generating a smell reminiscent of a chlorinated swimming pool.

In my case, the radiation was directly stimulating the brain, and I was told that there was "the potential to see flashing lights." What I saw, instead, was a tinge of violet. Your mileage may vary. If by chance you have booked for this trip, do not go into the funpark expecting son et lumiere.

This poem called RADIOTHERAPY INFLICTED is one of the poems in the cancer poems section of the Genghis Lotus Poetry Collection which is hosted at two locations, genghislotus.com and zenvirus.com/genghislotus/.

This poem is by Hugh Cook, author of the medical memoir Cancer Patient, the full text of which is available to read for free online.

Click to read Cancer Patient

RADIOTHERAPY INFLICTED

We are taught from an early age
Never to get cosy with Chernobyl.
Hiroshima was not love
But perversion,
A kink of the Dark Side
Never to be embraced.
We do not expect to see
The decay state trefoil
On any door outside the portals of Hell.
But there is just such a room near you.
In the Kingdom of Cancer
There are many mansions.
If it was not so
I would not have told you so.

In the Book of Rules it is written
That murder,
Even at the cellular level,
Is forbidden.
Down here in the blast bunker, though,
Observed through cameras by shielded eyes,
You learn that the rules are different.
Even the laws declared by science
Are in suspension.

In the world of propaganda
Radiation is billed as being odorless.
But in practice, radiation has a smell:
The lean chemical stench
Of the night's unflushing in the morning toilet bowl.
The smell, to be precise,
Of chlorine.
By convention,
Radiation is deemed to be invisible.
A thing truly invisible
Cannot have hue.
But the behemoth beam of the linear accelerator
Inflicts upon me violet.

There is, I regret,
To my ears,
Nothing of music in the world of radiation.
Your mileage, perhaps,
May vary.

This cancer poem touches on the subject of the actual experience of being irradiated by a linear accelerator. A chapter relating to this subject can be found in the online medical memoir Cancer Patient.

Click to read related chapter

Two
of Cancer Patient:
The author begins radiation therapy. After a few days, there is a little nausea. Eating becomes difficult. A chapter heavy in poetry wraps up with a poem called CARCINOMA BLUES. In summary, as radiation therapy gets underway, the author finds it straightforward but not exactly a whole lot of fun.

Click to read

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