Cachexia by Max Ritvo

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend January 19, 2017   Cachexia   Max Ritvo

Today I woke up in my body and wasn't that body anymore.   It's more like my dog— for the most part obedient, warming to me when I slip it goldfish or toast,   but it sheds. Can't get past a simple sit, stay, turn over. House-trained, but not entirely.   This doesn't mean it's time to say goodbye.   I've realized the estrangement is temporary, and for my own good:   My body's work to break the world into bricks and sticks has turned inward.   As all the doors in the world grow heavy a big white bed is being put up in my heart.            Copyright © 2017 Max Ritvo. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "'Cachexia' is a poem Max Ritvo wrote during the late stages of his nine-year fight with cancer (Ewing's sarcoma). Cachexia is known more commonly as  'wasting of the body' and is present in people with AIDS, cancer, and other diseases. Max noticed the shifts in his appetite and body despite his efforts to eat and maintain nutritional status. Max wrote 'Cachexia' just a few months before he died. It informs the reader about the inner world of a terminally ill young man." —Ariella Riva Ritvo   Max Ritvo is the author of  Four Reincarnations (Milkweed Editions, 2016). He was a teaching fellow at Columbia University and lived in Manhattan, New York. He died on August 23, 2016.   Photo credit: Ashley Woo Poetry by Ritvo   Four Reincarnations (Milkweed Editions, 2016) "The Branches" by Jean Valentine "Ephemeral Stream" by Elizabeth Willis "Why Poetry Can Be Hard for Most People" by Dorothea Lasky Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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