"My name is Renee and I am 52 years old. I am married to someone I love and I have three children and one granddaughter. I am a happy person. I have Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC), and I am not happy about that. I am Stage 4 and I am in the process of learning to live with birds circling my head. ".
Today is Renee's birthday. Her grit, guts, color and candor know no equal. It is my pleasure to join her family and friends to wish her a very happy birthday.
.
Renee: you'll get some presents today. Here's one from me, with love:
.
Oh body!
How did you manage
To step aside,
To transport me to a different universe
Where divine intention
Heals my cells and helps my fears?
.
It's soaring sisterhood
across keyboard miles
leveling my fate,
carrying me past uncertainties
I don’t deserve but manage to don
With designer strength and magic words.
.
In my old pajamas
My bones so deep,
Still they find me, allign me,
Send me words and pictures
And mile-wide hearts,
These friends who travel
Beyond the plains, to reach me here.
.
Oh body!
When did I become so lovely
That in this place
I find community?
And how did I shed my form and frame,
To be recast the leading lady of honest words,
Love washing over me
Like summer rain?
.
When did I become this beautiful?
So wild with grace,
So perfectly shaped and shapen:
I have become myself,
Full and true and open wide,
Comment boxes signed xoxo,
Alphabet 0rgasms punctuated
with blazing art.
.
Oh body!
I’m walking here!
Don’t bother slowing down.
I am the oak Renee,
My branches extend from Japan to California
They bend and stretch and reach,
Offering rest and reminder
That the world is rich
Simply and fully
Because I am.
.
Oh, and just so things don't get too serious, here's a cake especially for you, Renee:
pitchpipe begins:
ReplyDeletehappy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear renee,
happy birthday to you.
...and many more
ReplyDeletewonderful cake! :D
ReplyDeletei often read renee's comments which i do enjoy, happy boifday renee and i say 'fuck 'em all' and kick up your heels.
ReplyDeleteAww, KJ, what a great poem! And that CAKE!!! Yippee kayay! I think I know which piece Renee will want. :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletemim, i'm glad you visited renee's blog. and to your second comment: blush...
ReplyDeletekathy, thanks for stopping by. i visited you too and really enjoyed your gift to renee
soulbrush, god i love your spunk! i say what you say and it's always good to be reminded!
bella, you are a wonderful person. i hope you know that full well, because the combination of your humor and goodness often makes me both chuckle and bow. xo
Wow KJ, that poem is the essence of Renee, or at least how I know her to be. You nailed it sister!!
ReplyDeleteYou should stop by and tell her to come here.
I won't have time now to do a special post so I'll have to let the gifts I've sent be enough. Of course I'll go to her blog and leave my good wishes :)
This is a beautiful post...it takes the cake, and what a cake it is !!
xoxo
Lo
P.S. You had to remove a comment from Mim? Do tell!
lo, your friendship with renee is so wonderful i love just knowing about it. and of course lucky me too.
ReplyDeletei couldn't have found a better cake, huh! i hope renee gets a big chuckle out of it.
re the deleted comment: i'm doing detective work, that's all i have to say!!
xoxo!
renee! renee! when are you coming?
ReplyDeletei am jumping up and down trying not to put my finger in either one of these cakes and i hope you like this poem because i could see you standing in front of me when i wrote it and renee, renee, are you having a good day, and when are you coming here and do you want to be my friend for real, and....?!
hehehe, that cake made me laugh out loud.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for renee so's that I can follow over on her link.
chewy, just click on her name in my first paragraph and you'll be there!
ReplyDeletekj:
ReplyDeleteYou have struck me speechless.
---- ---- ---- -----
That was me trying to tell you all my heart feels about that poem. I am blessed to know you and I love what you have written. It is so easy when we feel sick to forget who we are, but you have reminded me that I am something.
My tears are flowing and you got me from the get-go.
We are true friends and I know it.
kj, can you mail me this, in a real letter. It can be printed I just want you to sign my name. I want to hang it so that when I forget who I am and what I may mean, then I can look at it beside my chair.
I love it kj. I truly love it.
p.s. Have you cut that fucking cake yet? And yes, I want the piece with all the icing.
xoxoxo
Love Renee
yes, renee, we are true friends. let me pledge that right now. i love you too. i'm glad that we are both connected to laurel. and i love bella's humor and grace. so many criss crosses: they don't all or always work but i recognize a blessing when i see one. of course i will mail you a copy of the poem and sign it. it will be my pleasure. i wanted you to know that i think you have transcended your body--however you've felt and feel about it-- and arrived at pure love and light. oh how new age that sounds, but girl, somehow you have ignited this in yourself and everybody else! i also know your days are not always as cheery and spunky as you sound in your posts, and i love that about you too. i'm always glad when i see your avatar, my friend renee..
ReplyDeleteokay: here it is:
love always,
kj
renee,
ReplyDeletep.s. how can i cut the cake without you? :)
Poetry is powerful and in this one beautiful too. XXOO
ReplyDeleteI came back for another reading of that fabulous poem...and some cake!
ReplyDeleteI don't like frosting so you can give mine to Renee.
;)
Happy Birthday !
ReplyDeletejust never give up... still want to wish you Happy Birthday for many more years... and eat a piece of your birthday cake !
happy birthday renee! I guess i can go on over there and tell her. ;-)
ReplyDeletetammy, thank you. that means alot coming from you. xo
ReplyDeletelo, i smile every time i see your avatar!
sidney, that is a sweet message to renee. i will pass it on to her.
ascender, i love that you are visiting me!!
kj you hit me again. Beautiful once again.
ReplyDeleteCheers to friendships long and true.
Love Renee xoxo
I could read this poem over and over and over and over and over.
ReplyDeleteOkay, well I think you get it.
xoxo
Love Renee and thank you for sending over some wishes.
kj: you are so kind. I believe that you know that your words make me a believer.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, maybe I could live, but I know I can't. But then again who knows what the universe can bring.
All through two years of chemo I would say 'live to fight another day, you don't know what may come.'
It seems you have been in my head.
Love Renee xooxoxo
you know, renee, i often don't like that word "fight." god knows i have my own struggles accepting loss, grieving, moving on, believing in myself and 'reality' sometimes. (this happens to be one of those times, but 'fight' doesn't seem to be what it really is at its core.
ReplyDeletei went to a workshop once and the woman who ran it said:
accept first, then act.
NOT actfirst and then accept.
for some reason that made a difference i finally understood.
i am rambling. enough for now.have a good day my friend.
xoxo
A belated happy birthday from me. If you knew me a little better, you'd know I'm usually late and come to expect it. Happy Day!
ReplyDeleteYour Poem for Renee is beautiful and very fitting - your cake is also very fitting for her! Gave me a good chuckle - thank you kj.
ReplyDeletekj, I flew on and off your blog yesterday and saw the cake but completely missed your poem, I just read it, it is beautiful and moving...
ReplyDeleteoh, Duh me! I hadn't noticed the link. - Excuse me for not always knowing exactly what you are up to in here kj. Me being a new comer, ya know? (wink)
ReplyDeleteshelly, what a treat for you to stop by with a thank you. the pleasure is all mine. you guys are quite a family!
ReplyDeletekathy, thank you very much.
chewy, wink wink back at you!