Chemo Side Effects: Memory
Elise Partridge, Vancouver BC
Where is the word I want?
Groping
in the thicket,
about to pinch the
dangling
berry, my fingerpads
close on
air.
I can hear it
scrabbling like a squirrel
on the oak's far side.
Word, please send over this black stretch of ocean
your singular flare,
blaze
your topaz in the mind's blank.
I could always pull the gift
from the lucky-dip barrel,
scoop the right jewel
from my dragon's trove.
Now I flail,
the wrong item creaks up
on the mental dumbwaiter.
No use --
it's turning
out of sight,
a bicycle down a
Venetian alley --
I clatter after, only to find
gondolas bobbing in sunny silence,
a pigeon mumbling something
I just can't catch.
Chameleon Hours (C) 2008 by Elise Partridge.
Reprinted with permission from House of Anansi Press. www.anansi.ca
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Together We Paddle
Together we have hope,
Together we have courage,
Together we have strength,
Together we paddle,
Together we survive
The International Pink Sisters Breast Cancer Dragon Boat Team of Parksville has just returned from an incredible paddling experience in Switzerland. The team was comprised of paddlers from South Africa, 3 American States and 2 Canadian Provinces. Ages of the team were between 34 and 80 with the average age being 60. The Paddle For Cancer Dragon Boat Festival is a fundraiser for the oncology units in Switzerland.
After our sunny arrival at Lac De Joux, the Pink Sisters met the Bosom Pals and had our first practice together as a team. Race day on Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, although the wind was quite gusty at times. We had 4 races that day but the most important part of the festival for the whole team was the introduction of the Pink Carnation Ceremony to the Swiss people.
One of the paddlers' husbands, Marc, who traveled with us, spoke both in French and English to explain the purpose of the ceremony and the significance of the pink carnations. The three breast cancer boats rafted together singing the song That's What Friends Are For as it played over the sound system the crowd could be heard singing from the shore. After the ceremonial tossing of the carnations into the water we arrived at the dock first, giving us time to form a paddle arch for the Swiss Survivors to walk under.
At the end of the day we placed first in the women's division to win gold. But more important we were winners because we were alive to do the race. We accomplished what we set out to do and that was to support and help the Swiss women with their first carnation ceremony. We are looking forward to our next journey to raise breast cancer awareness around the world, wherever that may take us. For further information regarding the International Pink Sisters please contact check out our web site at www.members.shaw.ca/pinksisters
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