My Account Log in

1 option

The radiation sonnets : for my love, in sickness and in health / by Jane Yolen.

LIBRA PS3575.O43 R36 2003
Loading location information...

Available from offsite location This item is stored in our repository but can be checked out.

Log in to request item
Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Yolen, Jane.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Cancer--Patients--Family relationships--Poetry.
Cancer.
Cancer--Radiotherapy--Poetry.
Married people--Poetry.
Married people.
Sonnets, American.
Cancer--Radiotherapy.
Cancer--Patients--Family relationships.
Genre:
Poetry.
Fiction.
Physical Description:
x, 90 pages ; 19 cm
Edition:
First edition.
Place of Publication:
Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2003.
Summary:
Beautiful, intimate, hopeful, and even funny, The Radiation Sonnets speaks to all of us who have battled illness with a loved one. Jane Yolen has spent her life giving enjoyment to millions of readers with her award-winning books and poems. But when her husband was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor, Yolen's writing became her emotional lifeline. Every evening, during the forty-three days that her husband, David, underwent radiation therapy, Yolen would retreat to her attic and pour out the day's events -- as well as her thoughts, fears, and love -- into sonnets, fourteen lines of rhymed verse. The result is a remarkable sequence of uncommonly intimate, unexpectedly humorous, and deeply healing poems that chronicle her family's journey through trauma and toward recovery. When Yolen read some of these sonnets on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, there was an immediate outpouring of support from listeners -- among them cancer patients and their families, doctors, nurses, and therapists. The poems speak of Yolen's ambivalence about medical technology, her anger at the gods, her joy in small victories, her acknowledgment of life's utter precariousness, and her refusal to give up hope. Her words are a tribute to a long and loving marriage as well as to the selflessness of the caretaker. For caregivers and survivors alike, The Radiation Sonnets is a triumphant celebration of strength and spirit.
Contents:
The Beginning ix
Day 1 A Promise to Eurydice 1
Day 2 Second Day 3
Day 3 Filled with Rays 5
Day 4 Damn All Machines 7
Day 5 Hanged Man 9
Day 6 A Daughter's Visit 11
Day 7 Organization 13
Day 8 Sucking Candies 15
Day 9 Mapping the Skull 17
Day 10 A Little Sleep 19
Day 11 Confusion 21
Day 12 Food Wars: First Shot 23
Day 13 Going for a Ride 25
Day 14 Collateral Damage 27
Day 15 Work Week 29
Day 16 Talisman 31
Day 17 Food Wars: Second Front 33
Day 18 Letting Go 35
Day 19 Temple 37
Day 20 Ride 39
Day 21 Holidays 41
Day 22 Penultimate 43
Day 23 Expectations 45
Day 24 Hair Apparent 47
Day 25 Waiting Room 49
Day 26 Ask the Doctor 51
Day 27 An Additional Week of Radiation 53
Day 28 A Bad Day 55
Day 29 Food Wars: Third Front 57
Day 30 Changing the Angle 59
Day 31 Daffodil Day 61
Day 32 Journaling 63
Day 33 One More Week 65
Day 34 Escape 67
Day 35 Bird-Watching 69
Day 36 April Fools 71
Day 37 Food Wars: Fourth Front 73
Day 38 Words 75
Day 39 Food Wars: Fifth Front 77
Day 40 Hawks 79
Day 41 Visitors 81
Day 42 Away 83
Day 43 Graduation Day 85
And After... 87.
ISBN:
1565124022
OCLC:
52269626

The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.

Find

Home Release notes

My Account

Shelf Request an item Bookmarks Fines and fees Settings

Guides

Using the Find catalog Using Articles+ Using your account