Everything Can Become Poetry

“Sorry, but I read a few of your poems. I bet she enjoys them. I am sure heaven has Wi-Fi.” – Todd, a friend of Mom’s

Merry Nell Drummond

My mother, Merry Nell Drummond, fought breast cancer for 29 years, from March 31, 1981 through March 3, 2010. I was 10 when she was diagnosed and 39 when she died.

Mom was also my muse, the first person to encourage my writing, back when I was in second grade. I wrote these poems over a period of three years. They continue to draw people who knew my mom (like Todd) as well as other people who have loved someone with breast cancer.

My Mother’s Diary

The first time I wrote poetry in a focused way — not for a class or in a fit of inspiration — was when it became clear my mother’s cancer was gaining the upper hand. As we entered her final season of life, I wanted to remember all the details, all the small moments. So on New Year’s Day, 2008, I started writing poems. As I continued to write them for three years, I began to think of the collection as My Mother’s Diary.

These seventy-two poems are here in an easy-to-find because people who knew and loved my mom still search for them online. A few have been published, and others were simply written as poetry therapy. I don’t know if heaven has Wi-Fi, but I’m sure it has lots of poems.

If you have loved someone going through cancer, or if you are on that journey yourself, the poems in My Mother’s Diary may speak to your soul and inspire you to write some of your own. I invite you to read and try.

01. Bosom Buddies brochure
02. Snoopy
03. Kinkade
04. God’s Pet
05. Weather from Room #409
06. Haircut
07. Sister John of the Cross
08. Lenten Tree
09. Joyful Noise
10. Beat the Clock
11. Visiting
12. Summer Swing
13. Rio Grande, near Creede, Colorado
14. S’More
15. The Perfect Dress
16. All Hallow’s Eve
17. Merry Wives
18. Equinox
19. CSML
20. Thanksgiving Card
21. Thanksgiving Pie
22. Wailing Wall
23. Twelve Days
24. Christmas Salad
25. Christmas Photos
26. Tantrum
27. God’s Mailbox
28. New Year’s Day Haiku (January 1, 2009)
29. There’s Sunshine Ahead
30. The Question
31. Irish Breakfast Tea
32. Bad Hair Day
33. Drought
34. Not Ready
35. Great Faith
36. Ghost
37. How Do I Sit In My Mother’s Chair?
38. Cancer Arcade
39. In the Bathroom
40. Still
41. Tear Ducts
42. Waltz Across Texas
43. Hurricanes or Ice Cubes?
44. Pink
45. Oil
46. Cactus
47. Black Friday
48. Christmas Crows
49. Party
50. After Advent
51. The Mimosa Lady
52. Treatment 101
53. Bridges
54. Blue Moon
55. Folly
56. Groundhog Day
57. Valentine’s Chai
58. Olympics
59. Earthquake
60. Toll
61. Uncloudy Day
62. Sisters
63. Beauty Shop
64. A Visit to Keni
65. February 31st
66. Day of the Dead
67. Sorority
68. Legend of Merry Nell
69. Aftermath
70. Red Hot Chili Mama
71. Instructions for Grieving
72. Fly Away