After Chemo by Maryfrances Wagner

How long have I been like this? she asks,
as though her chemo was a hangover.
Three days, I tell her. She punches
her pillow, a little drool creeping
down her chin, her sigh like my cat
before he gave up. No one should ever
have to live like this, she says. It’s easier
to die. I cover her with a quilt. No,
she says, I’m getting up. She wobbles
to the light switch. A devil came out of here.
He imitated me pulling my pain. Never
mind. You wouldn’t understand. I refresh
her ice water and juice, guide her
back to her bed, fluff her pillow
as she did for me, her cool hand
rescuing me from what hovered
outside my window, waiting.



Maryfrances Wagner co-edits I-70 Review, was Missouri Artist of the Year, and was Missouri’s 6th Poet Laureate. Red Silk won the Thorpe Menn book award and was first runner up for the Eric Hoffer award (2024). Her poems have appeared in New Letters, Laurel Review, Main Street Rag, Rattle, etc.