Empowerthy

By Sam Rose

"I tease the knots out of my hair
like they’re the ones in my stomach,
remembering with each stroke
an easier existence."

Empowerthy is a collection of poems about being a cancer survivor and living with Lynch syndrome, a genetic condition which makes people more likely to develop certain cancers in their lifetime.

The poems are written to empower and empathise with readers – whether you are a cancer survivor, previvor, or simply a survivor of this world so far.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781326287832

Sam Rose

Sam Rose is Senior Lecturer in Art History at the University of St Andrews.

Book preview

Empowerment

All The Things I Am

Sit down and let me tell you

all the things that I am.

I guarantee my list will not

match up with any assumptions

you may have made in your head

and it will barely match up with

any list I could have made five years ago.

how to be me

be

terminally honest

different to the point of a fault

while also

indifferent, somehow

be

genetically and wholly unabashed

be careless

and care less

and want

and be so, so impatient

and impulsive –

tell yourself it’s

a good combination

love yourself

try

even when you don’t

give yourself a reason to

be shameless

know fear as a terrifying tool

open up like a lotus flower

or a bulging trash can

better out than in

talk to yourself

repeat things to yourself

get some good responses

appreciate yourself

don’t change

be unabashed

Sympathy for sciatica

I don’t want

sympathy for sciatica

or tuts and