Tracey S. Rosenberg

Born in the United States, Tracey S. Rosenberg is the author of a historical novel, The Girl in the Bunker (Cargo Publishing, 2011), and two poetry pamphlets. She's been awarded a New Writers Award from the Scottish Book Trust and two Creative Scotland grants. Active in the spoken word and literary festival scene, she's a member of Edinburgh-based spoken word groups Inky Fingers and Shore Poets. She is Bookstalls Manager at the StAnza Poetry Festival.

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Cancer villanelle

Needles plunge. Consultants come and go.
Today, leukocytes are easy to locate;
tomorrow, next year, they may sink below.

Taxol drags at her heart. The drip, so slow,
eases on, flowing down her hand's tight veins
as needles plunge and consultants come and go.

The nurses praise her husband's constancy, though
he's uneasy, each treatment – can he sustain
her, tomorrow or next year, if she sinks below?

The ward's fish flit through a new tank, even though
the fatigued walls sag with the same diseased paint.
Needles plunge. Consultants come and go.

She still submerges, cold, forlorn. She knows
he'll ease her to a surface of hours, days,
tomorrow. Next year, she might sink below.

Bloods, infections, bruises, vomit, soothing low
tones, fish rising in an easy ballet:
tomorrow, next year, all these could sink below
the needle's plunge. Consultants come and go.

'Cancer Villanelle' © Tracey S. Rosenberg. 'Cancer Villanelle' will appear in The Naming of Cancer (Neon Books), which is published in November

Listen to Tracey S. Rosenberg read and discuss her work on the Scottish Poetry Library podcast.