Philip--answr to your request

[Guest guest]

Dear Philip,

I got your messageyesterday and think it's noble of you to try to include a

leukemia patient in a seemingly closed small group. I understand that she's had

a particularly rough time for the last 9 years and that leukemia is just part of

it. Speaking as a patient myself who has been through many difficult times as

have the others here, adding years of rejection and meanness makes it

particularly difficult to try yet one more time to attempt to join an aggressive

group when my nature is just the opposite.

You are a wonderful person as is your wife. With you behind me and being

supportive when the aggression begins (and it will) I suggest a few books and

poems. They are as follows: Refugee Blues by W.H.Auden; ; There are No

Accidents by Hopcke; A Day at the Beach by Helen Schulman; the poem

" Ithaca " by the Greek poet Cavafy and, finally, Jabberwocky by Carroll.

I need promises of dignity, kindness, fun, apologies, and guarantees of no more

meanness or humiliation. Then there's the Leukemia commercial. I'll do my part.

Lots of Love,