initiation
is painful
but quick
before
you know
you’ve signed up
been beaten
down
you’re enrolled
entangled
in a web
created by circumstance
your friends
your family
do not understand
why you accept
the inevitable
they are mad
frustrated
scared
as you are branded
by gang symbols
scars and funny haircuts
you’re labeled
titled
and it’s not just
for a day
week
month
year
you’re a lifer
many die
trying
to get out
others give it up
give in
to the new code words
time tables
to the abandonment
of a life previous
some survive
the last
beating
gang bang
but they remember
that once you’re in
you’re in
and something can always
lurk
beneath
the shadows
of your skin
© Julie Bolitho “The Cancer Gang,” Poem. Survivor’s Review. Vol 15, 2014; online edition, found at: http://www.survivorsreview.org/features.php?vol=15&art=220
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