https://jamilawoods.bandcamp.com/track/cancer-or-a-shark-in-the-sink
“Cancer: or a shark in the sink” is a poem from Jamila Woods’ digital album The Truth About Dolls. The piece shows the progressive effects of cancer on a young girl's family, as she sees the toll that the disease takes on those around her and later faces the possibility in her own life. The metaphor in the poem’s title makes a comparison between the scars left behind after a biopsy and the scars left behind after a shark attack; both are of the permanent nature, and come to signify a fight that one has endured. The line, “she hopes her breast will grow to be more like Grandmother’s dunes than mother’s sandcastles”, is yet another metaphor that Woods utilizes, in order to bring forth the details of cancer and its effects. The warning of “wet clumps of rock stuck in the halls” and the teaching of sticking her fingers in the sand in search of stones, relates the ideas, common to conversation around breast cancer, of the detection of lumps and the role that they play in diagnosing breast cancer, and the breast self-exam, a method by which the detection can be made. The details of Grandfather’s whale spirit, and his gradual decline in health, making of him a “bone sculpture under bedsheets”, a faint smile, and a shedding mane, further convey cancer’s place in the girl’s family. In this, the girl acquires a sense of paranoia, an overacting desire to evade the family’s persisting problem. She “combs the sand”,” fears the water”, “eats penance spinach and guilty chocolate”; in efforts to maintain her good health, she becomes slave to the “what-ifs” of cancer and volunteers punishment along the way. The line in which Woods writes, “her dirty dishes pile up beside the sink”, acts as an all-encompassing testament to what a life of fear becomes; here, it is detailed that the girl fails to live, in an effort to live. This piece resonated with me, because, unfortunately, like many others, cancer has acquainted itself with my family over the years. The progression, here, of naiveté to the untimely ushering of a young child into the gruesome reality of mortality is a necessary narrative; Woods’ portrayal of this idea was timeless and much appreciated.
3 Comments
Candice
1/11/2017 07:36:21 am
I loved your analysis! The way you said the author captured it in a timeless manner I couldn't agree with more. I'd like to know, do you relate at all to this poem?
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Davis from Smithfield
1/13/2017 05:00:34 am
This is a very strong analysis and I like how you broke the entire thing down into its separate pieces. After listening to the poem and reading your thoughts I would like to ask how strong of an effect this poem had on you. Do you attempt to live your life to the fullest even with the realization of reality or are you more like the girl in the poem? I think this poem uses a very good metaphor to compare cancer to a shark in the sink. They are both large fights and sometimes you just have to be lucky to win and unfortunately not everyone can't be lucky.
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Mya
2/10/2017 07:08:41 am
Hi, Davis. Thank you for your comment. To answer your question, I'd say that I am a bit of both. I think we could all stand to be a bit more optimistic; however, I don't think that I would volunteer punishment in the manner that the girl did.
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AuthorMya |