literature

On Trying to Raise Awareness

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Nichrysalis's avatar
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Published:
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Literature Text

I have tried raising awareness
and the teenager seated mandatorily
across from me listens with a lisp,
earbuds laced in one ear and out the other.
I want to shout it at his acne-cratered face,

lung cancer kills

but lung cancer is just another illness,
it is just another awareness campaign,
another type of cancer; who gets that anyway?

Don’t be that young man, stoic-issued
and party-stoked; naked-in-his-dreams
and uneventfully clothed during the day.
This was originally part of another poem, now an outtake from a performance piece I am working on for LadyLincoln's Lung Cancer Awareness: Finding Your Courage Project. SilverInkblot and I deemed it unfit for the larger poem I am working on, but polished enough to stand on its own. I think all of us understand this poem to some degree, when we try to raise awareness for something dear to our hearts and we are met with either ignorance or are ignored. Me and SelahDeNoctiluca and several others can relate.

Hope you like and appreciate.
Comments13
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Bark's avatar
I was that young man, long ago. Now I'm facing chemo and a fight to remain on this planet a bit longer. I hope this piece reaches  someone. (Excellent writing, btw.)