A word with the power
to stop a clock,
still tongues
and darken rooms.

A shell so spiked
it sticks, even
in the throats
of doctors.

Instead they use
the cleaner words:
Oncology,
Malignancy.

A scuttling disease
finding a crack
and prising
open.

The lucky ones
stagger back
into their lives
gasping, newborn.

With fresh holes
that let in light
and the wind
at new angles.