“All Care Is Palliative Now”

by Karen Friedland


The cancer has won
and is taking over,
as in a horror movie.

Our job is to keep you comfortable
(while you die),
says my team,
which is kind.

My only job now is to map out my demise,
type up poems,
plan a living wake.

It took me this long to wise up,
and spread love, love, love
to everyone whom my words,
my being have ever touched,
who I now realize
I love beyond all measure.


* * * * *

Once a grant writer by trade, Karen Friedland had poetry published in the Lily Poetry Review, Nixes Mate Review, One Art, and others. She has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her books are Places That Are Gone and Tales from the Teacup Palace. Karen lived in Boston with her husband, two dogs and a cat. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November 2021, two days before her 58th birthday, and died on April 14, 2024.