i wrote a lot about my father while i was back in the midwest a few weeks ago
an occurance i didn’t recount:
the last day i was there
my father’s dentist got in touch with him and told him a spot in his mouth had come back as being cancerous
a day later
a second biopsy prove to be malignant
a week later
i spoke with my father on the phone
and he told me he’d had two operations
— he sounded very tired, crestfallen
the next night
in talking with my mother
she asked me if i’d heard about my father’s Cancer of the Mouth
and it just fell out of my mouth
“serves him right: all the shit he spits out of his mouth, hopefully it will teach him a lesson, but i doubt it”
i’ve always been the sort who believes Cancer is caused by Emotions more than environmental toxicity
some organ-metaphore of sickness becoming manifest
as i wrote about
my father screams a lot
and makes people feel horrible
at least Us
the people He Loves
he hurts us the most
of course
all the poison pouring out of his mouth must sting him a little each time
and over time…
but i don’t hold ill-will to my father
and it is very important to me that i stay in a state of forgiveness with him
forgiveness and love
after the week i spent with him
upon my return
so much of him had rubbed of on me
the first few days i was back
i felt like a natural bigot, racist and misogynist
it was so shocking to me that i noticed it in every occurrence
i was raised like that
and certainly have remnants of it in my psyche that i deal with at times
but rarely do i ever feel it so strongly and Seriously as i did in those few days
— my father is really not a good influence on me
STILL, i don’t wish him any harm
even, when i was talking with a friend (of 75) last night
talking about the longevity of our relatives
i spoke of my father
heart attack, diabetes, cancer of the mouth
a part of me just wished he die now
so i didn’t have to suffer through watching him with the strokes and elderly demential/helplessness
some how spare me the guilt of not going to take care of him any longer than a few hours before he expires
Love
Love for that man
some Kinda Love
i do not understand
my love…
i wish
i always say this
for years and years
i wish i were a better lover.
0 thoughts on “Addendum: my father’s cancer”
bboyblue32
We are not our circumstances
It can be hard, to be your father’s child, but to not be your father. I know I walk in the shadow of my father’s failures even though I surpassed them in my mid twenties. I think it says a lot that you strive to be your own person and one who is filled with love and has many different kinds of friends and associates, and do not allow your upbringing to color these relations.
It is hard because we are born of parents who knew a different kind of racism in this country. My grandmother id a DL bigot, my aunt is very open about it, whereas my mother’s side of the family has fucked every conceivable race on the planet so can’t as easily disparage them without disparaging their own family.
Always remember, you are not your circumstance. You are more then that.
uneasytruce
You are wrong to blame your father, for giving himself cancer. The idea that his terrible words, leaking from that os, caused the malignancy–that is false.
I say this, as someone who really enjoys reading your blog, and respects you immensely. Every cancer patient I ever took care of, blamed him- or herself. I told each of them the same thing: We live in a tragically polluted world, and what happened to you was a genetic accident.
Try to be as compassionate as possible to both of your parents right now. Trust me–your father is already kicking himself, blaming himself somehow for a collision that occurred on a molecular level, and now threatens his life.
dominicvine in reply to uneasytruce
i hear ya.