The medical community has improved greatly its ability to detect and treat illnesses such as cervical cancer and more breakthroughs are around the corner. Had my mother lived another year or two she would have likely survived much longer. When he was done, he said, “I’ll see you next year.” The remainder of our visit consisted of specific instructions to take daily walks, to maintain a healthy diet, and to sleep. I had lived until then having not considered death as a part of my future. I was experiencing the distinct anxiety of having outlived her. He grabbed both of my hands in his, looked me in the eyes, and said, “Major, you are in great health.” After checking my family medical history, he noticed that my mother died of cancer several weeks before her forty-fifth birthday.

Green’s office, who realized what was going on. He obliged but with raised eyebrows, made a joke that I must like wearing hospital gowns. You know Say ah! A month later, I returned with the request that we do another round of blood tests and assessments. Green performed the full battery of expected tests: blood pressure, lung exam, cold stethoscope on my back, a check of my tonsils. Shortly after my forty-fifth birthday, I booked an appointment for an annual physical. Livestreams will be available on BDPC Facebook and YouTube pages.I’m Major Jackson and this is The Slowdown. Laméris will read along with the winners of the High School Prize at Leo Weinstein Auditorium in Wright Hall on Tuesday, April 4 at 7 p.m. She is on the faculty of Pacific University’s low-residency M.F.A. The 2020 recipient of the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award, Laméris is a Poet Laureate emeritus of Santa Cruz County, California. To smile / at them and for them to smile back.” This poem inspired Laméris to make a collaborative work featured in the New York Times drawing on over 1000 teenagers’ submissions about small acts of kindness it beautifully illustrates Laméris’s dedication to community and human connection. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, / and to say thank you to the person handing it.

In her poem “Small Kindnesses” Laméris writes, “Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other. Poet, teacher and essayist Danusha Laméris is the author of two books of poetry: The Moons of August (Autumn House, 2014) and Bonfire Opera, (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020), for which she was awarded the North California Book Award in Poetry and was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize.

Bonfire Opera by Danusha Laméris