Poetry in Red

People have been sending me their experience on Red Tuesday last week (Z's last chemo treatment). I've been collecting my thoughts about just what sort of magic is contained in a collective intention that is rooted in individual love and expression... I want to write about that - soon! In the meantime, here is a poem from a wonderful poet friend, Sherry Olson. Enjoy

Red

Zpora, red
was in my thoughts
all day Tuesday,
your last day of treatment
at the hospital,

and now, the day after,
red is the strawberries
my friend Carol and I pick
at the Plainfield
pick-your-own. Our talk

connects like dot to dot
over the rows,
here in the sun,
the berries and the talk
glistening, spangling

like the door she tells me
she painted red for you.
We are all so glad,
Zpora. Red is the healthy
blood coursing

through your body,
the rich lights in your hair,
and the color of your lips,
glowing, the wide open
joy of your smile.

Red Tuesday check in

Here are a few snapshots for you from Red Tuesday: washing red fruit and cooking beets for our Red Dragon dinner, the red candle that we lit at my monthly sister breakfast (that included my step mom and grand niece), the red scarf worn to honor the Red Dragon that became a healing focus in my friend’s therapy session, the not-quite-red henna streaks in mine and Andy’s hair, the red warmth that another friend felt every time she focused on Zpora that day, driving into the hospital parking garage behind the red Hummer with the tag “Pam 52”, Andy’s and my deep red blood running into the bags at the Red Cross, red calling out everywhere, flashing by or just beyond my peripheral vision… I hope the pictures are as vivid in your mind as they are in my mine!

Zpora’s final infusion of Vincristine (a drug made from the vinca plant) last week included a visit with her doctor, Barbara Grant, with whom we began this journey over two years ago. She stuck her head around the door of the tiny examining room where we were waiting and said “I’ve been waiting for this day for soooo long.” And so had we! She had in tow a young medical student Matt with a bow tie, on the first day of his first year. She focused on the post-chemo period saying how difficult it will be emotionally. She stressed how good Zpora will feel, that she “doesn’t even know how good she’ll feel,” and she spoke about the “symphony of the immune system.” She recruited Z to talk to a young woman and her partner there in the infusion room. They are in the beginning stages of treatment - also for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I shared tears of compassion and love with that beautiful young woman’s partner, she just beginning a journey and I just completing it. The oncology nurses that had cared for her over the last 26 months gathered around Z for a sweet simple ritual “ringing the bell for hope.”

It was a hot day under a thick blue sky. Wearing the layers and layers of red cotton (an old and beloved “ritual dress”) all that 90-degree day, I felt myself in service to a vast and subtle force. I felt aware of so many of you who, I knew, also held this day apart, special. The force of life shows itself in the myriad and layered mundane details of a day, and on this day we colored it RED. On this day we held this life force consciously, with more attention perhaps than other days and so opened ourselves to being “Priestesses” to healing, to love, to compassion and caring – those traits that we invoke in the image of Red Dragon. It was a relief to take off that red gown, not only because it was so hot that day, but also for the relief of re-entering the mundane world as a simple participant.

Thank you for joining together in this circle.

Red Tuesday

On July 8 Zpora is scheduled for her last monthly chemotherapy infusion. The schedule of treatment, begun over 2 years ago, is coming to completion and I am hoping that you will join us in Circle of love and gratitude.

Next Tuesday (all day, or for 5 minutes, or the blink of your eye, or beat of your heart) gather your attention in a ritual honoring of the fierce Red Dragon Guardian of life blood.

Draw a long slow breath and call to mind the flowing, red, life-giving, alive, essential, liquid life force that flows in our veins and offer a toast to health and happiness.

Raise a glass of red wine, or cranberry, wild cherry or raspberry juice, enjoy a Bloody Mary, eat strawberries, red meat and beets, light red candles, wear red lipstick, dye your hair (red, of course) draw pictures with red crayons, paint a wall red, make borsht, fill crystal with red water and put it in your windows, sing red songs (an old Wobbly song?) dance a red jig, write a poem in red ink, watch the red sun set, paint your toenails (red?) rename yourself, wear a red dress or baggy red zouaves or flowing red scarf, take a walk and draw hearts on the sidewalk with red chalk, count everything red in your house, wear your grandmother's garnet ring or ruby brooch... BE RED for just this moment.

With deep gratitude to you, in this sacred moment, in this sacred circle.
L'Chaim! To life!

Love,
RubyRed