Unless stated otherwise, all poetry on Swimming in Lines of Haiku is Copyright Kirsten Cliff and may not be reprinted in any form without written permission from the author. kirsten(DOT)cliff(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Thursday, November 4, 2010

A Tanka for Leukaemia Appeal Week

This week is Leukaemia Appeal Week (Nov 1-7) in New Zealand so I'm sharing the first tanka I wrote in hospital while having chemotherapy for Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia (APML). This tanka was first published in Kokako 13, September 2010

walking to work
they kiss
before parting:
the nurse turns left
the doctor turns right

Copyright © 2010 Kirsten Cliff


This photo was taken as part of the Leukaemia Appeal Week campaign, photographed by TJ Alderson in conjunction with the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation. It's of me with my mum and sister in my favourite second hand bookshop, Browsers, in Hamilton.

You can see other leukaemia survivors and read their stories by following this link, as well as some facts about leukaemia and details of how to donate online and go into the draw to win a Farmers gift card worth NZ$100!

2 comments:

  1. thanks for posting on my angel pics..its funny how we seem to like the same things...angels are pretty incredible really.

    I can post the process of doing your poetry course next year...would be an interesting process to see on a blog..Cheers janet

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  2. Hi there, Janet :) Thanks for stopping by!
    Yes, I'm sure people would be interested to read about the poetry writing process: how you felt about what you were learning and how that lead you to other ideas for your work, etc.
    Good idea! Look forward to it :)
    Kirsten x

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