Man's Best Friend

My Black Lab is the same age as I am.
(In dog years, that is.)

By the strangest coincidence
We both got tumors at the same time.

Mine’s an inconspicuous lymphoma under my armpit.
My dog’s is on his ass, big as day.

The vet even had to shave his butt.
Guess I should be thankful for the little things.

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About the author: In the fall of 2022, Dr. John Smelcer was diagnosed with stage 2 B-cell, non-specified, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a metastatic cancer of the lymphatic system. He is currently undergoing hospitalization cycles of chemo and immuno-therapy. John Smelcer is the author of 60 books, including a dozen books of poetry. His most recent collection is Raven. For a quarter century, he was Poetry Editor at Rosebud Magazine, where he currently serves as Senior Editor Emeritus. From 2016-2020, he was the Inaugural Writer-in-Residence for the Charter for Compassion, the world’s largest compassion movement with over five million members in 45 countries.