{"product_id":"to-see-yourself-as-you-vanish-9780819502070","title":"To See Yourself as You Vanish","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFierce, frank, witty poetry about cancer diagnosis, treatment, remission, and end-of-life\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten in the last three years of her life, Andrea Werblin Reid's \u003ci\u003eTo See Yourself As You Vanish\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of unsparingly brave and insightful poems about her experience with ovarian cancer. Frank, fierce, and witty, her work does not hide behind cliches, platitudes, or tropes, but addresses the hopes, frustrations, fears, and longings that would be easy to leave unspoken. She offers friendship and understanding to those who share her experiences and powerful insights for caregivers and those who work in oncology, hospice, research, and psychology. Of these poems, Reid herself said: \"I have struggled with the implications of war metaphors and the perspectives they perpetuate since receiving my own cancer diagnosis. People living with cancer and other chronic illnesses are not taking up arms, they are living as long and as humanely as possible: not to win or lose, simply to live.\" The scenes in these poems are rich and spare, magical and sane, awful and special: \"one bird comes to the end of his branch looking like a clever moustache. \/one bird comes to the end of his song like an ordinary bird.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[sample poem]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE COLOR OF WAITING \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eis hypnotic pink, under whose spell \u003cbr\u003eyou've been living for years \u003cbr\u003elike a small fossilized creature. \u003cbr\u003eor magenta, a bruise \u003cbr\u003ethat evolves, so you must \u003cbr\u003econtinue to adjust your secrets \u003cbr\u003ewaiting is rosy, a soft-spun \u003cbr\u003emedical soundtrack of static \u003cbr\u003efrizz, machine screech \u003cbr\u003ethen sharp as the serrated smiles \u003cbr\u003edoctors have been honing for years. \u003cbr\u003ewaiting masquerades as the inflatable idea \u003cbr\u003eof hope, waterproofed for safety, maybe, \u003cbr\u003edevoid of vision, punctured that easily\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Wesleyan University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/09\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780819502070\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 96","brand":"Andrea Werblin Reid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51445523349685,"sku":"9780819502070","price":22.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_54d113c7-adf0-4ed8-a509-d656abc1531b.jpg?v=1753798824","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/to-see-yourself-as-you-vanish-9780819502070","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}