Chris wrote: “In October 2021, I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Soon after, I underwent emergency surgery to remove a tumour from my brain. I was given a targeted therapy to stabilise any further spread of the disease, and remarkably this was successful for exactly a year. Immediately following the brain surgery, I experienced an incredible creative outpouring that yielded 1000 poems in the space of just 10 months. In December 2022, I wrote the 1000th poem, then stopped altogether. Shortly after this, I learned the tumours in my brain had returned. To what extent this creative burst was a product of the brain surgery is difficult to determine, but it is hard not to make a link. The experience I underwent in writing these poems felt uncanny, as if my brain, for a short time at least, had been subtly altered and rewired, allowing me to access completely new neural pathways and connections.”
We will be publishing Chris’s poems here.
chriswilsonlife 