Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Alicia Suskin Ostriker's poem "The Mastectomy Poems: 1. The Bridge" opens the series with a powerful and intimate exploration of the moment when a routine medical procedure becomes the entry point into a life-altering experience. The poem captures the shock, fear, and sudden shift in reality that accompanies a diagnosis of breast cancer, drawing the reader into the emotional landscape of a woman confronted with her own vulnerability.

The poem begins with the speaker's reflection on the disbelief that accompanies a cancer diagnosis: "You never think it will happen to you, / What happens every day to other women." This line speaks to the universal tendency to distance oneself from the possibility of serious illness, despite the knowledge that it is a common occurrence. The use of the second person "you" immediately draws the reader into the experience, creating a sense of shared vulnerability.

As the speaker describes the setting of the mammogram—"paging a magazine, / Its beauties lying idly in your lap"—there is a stark contrast between the mundanity of the moment and the life-changing news that is about to unfold. The "beauties" in the magazine represent the everyday distractions and the normalcy that the speaker is about to lose. The setting is one of routine, where the expectation is to "be routinely waved good-bye / Until next year," a ritual that has been upended by the unexpected.

The turning point in the poem comes with the technician's words: "Sorry, we need to do this again." This moment marks the shift from routine to crisis, from the assumption of health to the possibility of illness. The speaker has "already become a statistic," signifying the abrupt loss of individuality as she enters the realm of cancer patients, a "citizen of a country" where the realities of the disease dominate.

Ostriker uses powerful imagery to convey the insidious nature of cancer: "the air, / Water, your estrogen, have just saluted / Their target cells, planted their Judas kiss / Inside the Jerusalem of the breast." The metaphor of the "Judas kiss" suggests betrayal, an attack from within, while the reference to "Jerusalem" evokes a sense of sacredness and violation. The breast, often associated with femininity and nurturing, becomes the site of invasion, a place where betrayal occurs at a cellular level.

The next image, "what looks like specks of dust / Is calcium deposits," underscores the deceptive nature of the disease. What appears to be harmless, almost insignificant, is actually a sign of something much more serious. The juxtaposition of the small and the catastrophic highlights the insidiousness of cancer, how something so small can carry such weight.

The poem then shifts to the physical space of the "shabby booth / Whose curtain reaches halfway to the floor," a metaphor for the speaker's exposed and vulnerable state. The curtain, which only partially covers, suggests that there is no true protection from the fear that is now part of the speaker's reality.

Ostriker captures the paralyzing nature of fear in the line, "Try saying fear. Now feel / Your tongue as it cleaves to the roof of your mouth." The physical sensation of the tongue sticking to the roof of the mouth evokes the way fear can render one speechless, unable to articulate the depth of the emotion. The word "cleaves" carries a double meaning—both to stick and to split—mirroring the way fear both adheres to the speaker and divides her from her previous sense of safety.

"The Bridge" serves as the threshold into the emotional and physical journey of breast cancer, setting the stage for the exploration of identity, body, and survival that follows in the series. Through its precise and evocative language, the poem conveys the shock and terror of the moment when everything changes, capturing the reader's empathy and inviting them to walk alongside the speaker as she crosses the bridge from health into illness.

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