Article: Sick jokes.(Poetry)(Poem)

 
And so they make the jokes about friend or enema, 
side effects of impotence and incompetence, 
sending a callow student to 
pick up some fallopian tubes. 
Humor is the unintended consequence 
of the dismal diagnosis: the palpable tumor, 
the aggressive cells, the advanced stage 
and PSA rising. What can you do but laugh 
until you cry, as life, with its stand-up comedy 
act, resorts to shtick and slapstick. What good is 
your witty repartee, your polite social banter, now 
that what you're facing is pain and pratfall, 
the put-down, the smart-ass remark? Who 
was it said, if it hurts, it's ...

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