a brief walk round The Den tonight seems to indicate that many of us are "in the wars". Love and BIIIIG hugs to one and all in this respect and my good wishes for better things to come as the year progresses. But time, also, perhaps to celebrate wot we got while we still got it... today I returned from a bi-annual check with my breast surgeon who has given me a clean bill of health for another six months and, with that, it means that the all-important five-year recurrence-free watershed has almost been reached since the original cancer. Thank you always for your care and support - I know that there are others among and known to us who are similarly going through this struggle. So, girls, please DO be vigilant - and men, too, if you've enough to grab a piercing onto! The stats this side of The Pond are a sobering 1 in 9 occurences of breast cancer in women. BE WELL, PEOPLE! :)) xx

ANNO DOMINI


There’s a mark on my wrist
that changes hue
throughout the day and night:

grey with yellow freckles,
it’s part sunshine and part rain
at eleven over coffee;

ruddy at three, it’s smudgy
as the sticky rim of lipstick
stippled on my cup.

At later, in-between times
its gathering blue collects
a dusk of blackbirds
home to roost.

I don’t know what I’m seeing
but I feel it all the same:

defiant of self-healing,
time’s bruising grip
burns deeper with
each successive day.