"Who among us does not crave a cure?"
High in the rafters of Earth,
a ventriloquized voice beckons
our species from the first eutherian mammal
to the Anthropocene, our hapless current epoch.
Régimes whisper to extinctions.
My mammalian body is dutiful
at its mammogram.
I am moved to tears again.
The groove in my left breast
“tissue sparing.” They said, “clean margins.”
What is more powerful than all
social media in its fervent
echo chamber of denials?
Who among us does not crave a cure? A miracle
like Spring’s first crocus luring bees from their hives.
The science deniers reject inconvenient facts
then demand the latest chemo when they’re sick.
Cathryn Shea's poetry collection is "Genealogy Lesson for the Laity" (Unsolicited Press); her chapbooks include "Backpack Full of Leaves" and "It's Raining Lullabies." A Best of the Net nominee, her poetry has appeared widely in journals and anthologies. See www.cathrynshea.com