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Terminal Diagnosis
Paperback
Publisher: Kelsay Books
Published: Apr 29 2026
Pages: 106
Weight: 0.34
Height: 0.25 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
You do not step lightly into these poems of Bill Glose. Terminal Diagnosis hurtles us into heights and drops of hope and lament as extreme as the roller coaster ride in Death Day. These are love poems in search of language to carry the poet's heartbreak after viewing his girlfriend's X-ray with its dot of pure white - So little for something that can swallow a universe. Each poem is a gift into which he has lavished all his loves: foremost, the love for his woman, Dawn, but for nature and science, history and literature, all seamlessly crafted into this remarkable collection ten years in the making. For me, as it will be for you, there is no getting off the ride.
-Suzanne Underwood Rhodes, Arkansas Poet Laureate
In illuminating and compelling poems, Bill Glose offers a clear-sighted view of the strength a cancer patient must muster when confronting a health crisis. Throughout Terminal Diagnosis, the speaker gleans wisdom from standing by the side of his pragmatic lover, who gains his admiration by remaining positive and looking toward the light. Each insight occurs in the blink of an eye. Collectively, these lyrically intense and emotionally riveting poems remind us of the importance of valuing each moment as if it's our last.
-Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Virginia Poet Laureate Emerita
In this unabashedly intimate collection of Glose's, we are given a brave unwinding of the so many Necessary Lies, the murmured platitudes and pastel condolences we weave when encountering someone with uncertain health outcomes. The heavy, too often silent, weight of a caregiver's anxiety shines through for the aching humanity it is. More than that, these poems put us face to face with our own mortality in the everyday rhythm of our magnificent little lives, both precious and fragile, and leave us - despite the direness of the collection's title - with hope.
-Joanna Lee, MD, Poet Laureate Emerita of Richmond, Virginia
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