Fear-Less
Karen Landry
by Karen Landry
If you can forget for just a moment,
Then two moments, then three,
An accidental oriole, a brazen chickadee
The thin white line of foam tracing just atop the wave,
Repeated in the pattern of the roses on the bay.
Writing lines of poetry without the feel of pen,
A mantra whispered to the air, again and then again.
The chattering of rocks raking back into the sea,
The grit of salt and sand scouring clean their memory.
This is how you know you have forgotten how to fear:
A second, then a minute, then an hour, then a year.
Karen Landry is a three-year breast cancer survivor who lives in Dracut, MA.
This poem was published in Coping® with Cancer magazine, Spring/Summer 2023.
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