Passing: Poems by Robert Fox
Passing
by Robert Fox is an unforgettable narrative about the death of the author’s
first wife, Susan, from cancer. The couple’s struggle to retain dignity
and strength in the face of their increasing struggle is depicted in calm,
unvarnished detail. But what makes Passing a truly devastating book
is that it is spoken from beyond this life. Shortly after this collection
was accepted by Turning Point, the author himself was diagnosed with cancer,
and passed away earlier this year. Robert Fox’s struggle to capture
his wife’s fight in words is his own last poetic testament.
"The honest voice and honest heart of Robert Fox make Passing an unforgettable volume. As he follows his course of a virulent breast cancer, he names the words we have to hear: chemo, radiation, Decadron, MRI, Neuprogen, coma. There are no lies in this collection. But the word that we remember longest is none of these. It is, rather, ‘Susan.’ Passing is about grief and illness and suffering and human ignorance, but it is, most important of all, about a great love that makes everything else somehow bearable."--Joyce Dyer
"Robert Fox’s Passing documents, in searingly honest fashion, the most profound passage of all—the death, from cancer, of his beloved wife, Susan. Her diagnosis, his reactions, her course of treatment, their hopes and fears, days of light and love, all are rendered here in the most exacting verses. Mystery is restored to the quotidian—the conversations of doctors and nurses, the drama of a minor league baseball game, the makings of a meal, the round of household chores—for in the world of cancer, which is the world itself, eternity is always near at hand. This is a testament to two brave spirits—husband and wife, poet and muse—and we are the wiser for their witness."--Christopher Merrill
Robert Fox (1943-2005) was the longtime Literature Coordinator for the Ohio Arts Council. He was the author of numerous collections of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, most recently Moving Out, Finding Home (Wind Publications, 2005). Shortly after Turning Point Books accepted Passing, a narrative about his late wife’s battle with cancer, Mr. Fox himself was diagnosed with cancer, and passed away in 2005.
ISBN: 1932339868, 96 pages, $17.00