Spring/Summer 2008, Volume 24.3
Poetry
Katie S. Terry
Katie S. Terry earned her BA in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis from 91¶ÌÊÓƵ. She has studied American Poetry at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand, and, together with other poets, has published a collection of their work entitled Voices From the Second Floor. Katie has worked with poets Robert Dana and Ken Brewer. Ken Brewer was a mentor and friend. She continues to write daily and hopes to one day teach others the value of poetry.
Occupation
—to Ken Brewer
After diagnosis
he turned over his half-written
notebook and began to work
until the last swallow of life was left.
Writing wouldn’t be rationed.
When we are told
how many
breaths are left,
and approximately how
long it takes cancer to eat
at the liver, lungs or breast,
our nature may move us into
our final occupation.
These are the jobs we’ve possibly lived
or lost
or neglected.
We become the philosophers,
complainers,
and lovers—
caught cursing
or crying
the day
the heavy hand
of God is set
on our shoulders,
and we are painfully asked
to leave.