Courtney LeBlanc: Relentless
Photo: Joanna C. Valente
Relentless
It’s my birthday and because time is a commodity
I don’t have enough of, I’m getting my first
mammogram. I’m 41, a year late to this middle
age requirement. As I sign the insurance forms
I think of my friend who died yesterday.
He will never see his boys grow to men, never
see his wife’s hair gray, never have crow’s feet flock
to the corners of his eyes. I pull the cotton gown
onto my shoulders, as the nurse moves around me.
I have tears in my eyes and she ask if I’m scared.
I don’t trust my voice so I just nod. She reassures me
but not about the things I fear: that life is short, that
the people I love will die too soon, that time
surges forward relentlessly.
Courtney LeBlanc is the author of Beautiful & Full of Monsters (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), chapbooks All in the Family (Bottlecap Press) and The Violence Within (Flutter Press). She has her MBA from University of Baltimore and her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. She loves nail polish, wine, and tattoos. Read her publications on her blog: www.wordperv.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79.
