GAs Featured Poet: Arvilla Fee

 

Arvilla Fee lives in Dayton, Ohio with her husband, three of her five children, and two dogs. She teaches for Clark State College, is the lead poetry editor for October Hill Magazine, and has been published in over 100 magazines. Her three poetry books, The Human Side, This is Life, and Mosaic: A Million Little Pieces are available on Amazon. Arvilla’s life advice: Never travel without snacks. Visit her 

Keep Shining

 

a bedraggled body

that bears the brunt

of poison in my cells:

radiation, chemo—

it’s not for the faint of heart

 

I’m fixed on my reflection,

protruding clavicle,

wrists thin enough to break

with a single backwards snap,

ribs rubbing against my shirt—

 

who is this woman staring

back at me with hollow eyes

and white-washed skin?

I blink and look again—

ah, there I am, a single spark

 

behind amber eyes; I smile,

apply a coat of lipstick

then dab on a bit of blush;

I cover my cold, bald head

with a silver-studded beanie;

 

There you are, I say.

In all your glam and glory. I’m

nothing if not stubborn, a dogmatic

blazing candle who refuses

to be silenced by the dark.