The Day My Hair Fell Out

Third chemo cycle did the trick.
One day hair; next day bare.

I hoped I’d look like a bad-ass:
Telly Savalas or Yul Brynner or Vin Diesel.

Heck I’d have settled for buff Mr. Clean
with his one shiny gold earring.

Instead, with my wrinkly head and squinty vision
I look more like Mr. Magoo.

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About the author: In the fall of 2022, Dr. John Smelcer was diagnosed with stage 2 B-cell, non-specified, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a metastatic cancer of the lymphatic system. He is currently undergoing hospitalization cycles of chemo and immuno-therapy. John Smelcer is the author of 60 books, including a dozen books of poetry. His most recent collection is Raven. For a quarter century, he was Poetry Editor at Rosebud Magazine, where he currently serves as Senior Editor Emeritus. From 2016-2020, he was the Inaugural Writer-in-Residence for the Charter for Compassion, the world’s largest compassion movement with over five million members in 45 countries.