One of my favorite publications, Vox Populi, is featuring four of my poems. These hendecasyllabic pieces (consisting of eleven lines, each containing eleven syllables) reflect back on the early days of my illness, when pain and difficulties breathing prevented me from lying down. I spent six months attempting to sleep on a recliner before treatment allowed me back in bed.
O at the Edges 
Congratulations, Bob.
It’s good to have this behind you. Keep writing forward.
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Thanks to modern science, I’m still here!
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Congratulations, Bob.
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Thanks, Andrew!
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You’re welcome.
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wonderful and terrifying and moving
and all the other things
so happy to see your work
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Thanks, Charles. Things have been up and down over the past few years, but I’m still trying!
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I think you’re getting some good results there.
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You should see the ones that got away. 😄
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Magnificent, Robert.
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Thank you, Mick!
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wonderful, congratulations
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Thank you, Beth.
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Congratulations, Bob! Clicking over to read.
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Thanks very much, Liz!
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You’re welcome, Bob!
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These perfectly capture the in between, which is always with us, but only noticed in the midst of extreme circumstances (K)
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I spend a good deal of my existence in the between. The most recent hospitalization was a prime example, with different doctors having different treatment priorities and protocols, with me waiting, trying to process what was what. A strange time.
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Having been through months of hospitals with a friend–yes. They are surreal, always.
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Surreal is an apt descriptor. I hope to avoid any more hospital stays in the near future…
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I hope you do too.
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Very moving, these. You really capture the liminal state – congratulations, Bob!
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Thanks, Lynne. I’ve been so fortunate. The initial treatment brought me back from the brink. It lost its effectiveness about a year ago, but it’s replacement is doing the job. Who knows what’s next?
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It makes me very happy to hear this! Here’s to ever onward 💜
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I’m trying not to waste time, however much is left to me, especially this chemo-free period.
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And still you allow us to join you in your journey – long may it continue
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My WordPress friends are important to me. I am in debt to them for years of kindness and support.
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And congratulations, of course
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😃 And thank you!
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Love these, Robert. Such a liminal space, but I think my favorite line might be “I want answers, dammit”….don’t we all.
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Those answers are hard to come by!
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Between the real and the unreal, the grabs you, holds you, let’s go. Your words move me deeply inside. Thanks.
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Dan! Thanks very much. It’s good to hear from you.
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A provocative set of reflections … I’ve saved ’em for when my time comes. To remind me that things could get better – at least back to sleeping in bed! I had a lengthy chair-sleeping-sorta era after breaking my shoulder in 2023.
Glad you’re past that era. Glad you shared it to “enlighten” others sleeping upright.
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I’m hopeful that circumstances don’t fall so strangely as before. And they shouldn’t. I’m receiving regular scans, and any outlandish tumor growth etc. should be caught and dealt with before I’m forced back to the nightly chair routine.
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