I have a guest writer this week. I asked this author if I could publish her piece of work and after balking, she demanded I double her allowance for payment and then gave me full publication rights.
I’m publishing this poem because I think it’s important to know the impact of parent illness on children. My 7 and 9 year old kids walk around and look just like other 7 and 9 year old kids, but their brains are so full of questions, wondering if I’m going to live or die or if my hair is going to fall out or if they will get to snuggle with me or if I’ll be too tired. They are distracted. They are sad. They are unbelievably angry. They don’t even really know why.
My daughter happens to be unbelievably articulate and mature about describing how she feels. She has stated that only her friends at Camp Kesem, an overnight camp for kids who have parents or caregivers with cancer, know how she feels. She walks around all day feeling a little alone, even though she is surrounded by the people she loves and who ferociously love her back.
I know how that feels too, but I’m 38.
There is so much beauty in her poetry and while I’ve spent hours deconstructing it and analyzing just how perfect it is, I’ll go ahead and let you do that for yourself.
I Am From
by Zoey Van Duyn
I know, right?
She’s incredible. Every detail of this poem makes my skin tingle. If anyone is interested in talking for hours about how insanely talented my gorgeous daughter is, I’m game. I’m so immensely proud of her emotional maturity and ability to express herself so clearly. And I am deeply sad that she has to explore these feelings at her age. It’s like a sucker punch to the gut. If it’s a legacy I want, I feel confident that she is it.
She is amazing! I think she is following in her mom’s footsteps with her talent for writing ❤️
I could barely move from my spot in Katie’s room when I read Zory’s poem and I feel the same reading it again now. Heart full. Heart bursting.
I was toast for the rest of the day. I couldn’t even look at another person while I was there!
Zoey! Zoey! Not Zory. Gah.
Wow she is an amazing human! Double her allowance for sure!
Thank you for sharing. So much in life we do not choose…sometimes it amazes ❤️
Wow! Choked up reading it and feeling it…..for her, and for you! What an amazing young child with insight beyond her years.
Touches the soul for sure. She is clearly smart and sensitive. So much to offer at her young age with timeless experiences.
I am late to this party. You don’t know me. A friend of ours shared your blog with me. I am a BC survivor: stage 2B. 2014. My kids were a bit older than yours when I was diagnosed. But their experience was perfectly articulated in your Zoey’s poem. My heart still breaks because I know they still suck in their breath when they hear I’m not feeling well-waiting presumably for it to happen again. God bless our families-especially our children who are often silent witnesses without a way to express the delicate balance between terror and comfort.