Mark Liebenow

Fear of Possibilities Trying to remain calm when facing the unknown.

Fear of Possibilities

Words are no help right after someone receives the news that they have cancer. What she needed was someone to sit beside her for a time as the cold shadows of her fears drew near. #Hodgkin’slymphoma #Cancer #Fear #Chemotherapy

markliebenow.substack.com/p/fear-of-po...

It Sits Between a Man's Bladder and His Old Feather Mark Shanahan, Mr. 80 Percent video series, 2025

It Sits Between

At age 48, Mark Shanahan found his PSA was rising. With a family history of prostate cancer, he opted for surgery, then added in radiation and hormone therapy to be sure his cancer was gone. #prostatecancer #TheBostonGlobe
markliebenow.substack.com/p/it-sits-be... @bostonglobe.com

Hope Is Hope is the thing with … barbed wire.

Hope definitely doesn’t have FEATHERS, all fluttery and light, although it might if a circus clown like Emmett Kelly is trying to sweep up a spotlight with a feather.

markliebenow.substack.com/p/hope-is

A Lifespan of Width Andrea Gibson, You Better Be Lightning, 2021

Reading the poetry of Andrea Gibson is like coming out of a thick, brambled forest and seeing the beauty of the mountains rising all around you.
markliebenow.substack.com/p/a-lifespan...

Maybe Dying, Maybe Not Cancer Writers

The first thing that everyone thinks when the doctor says they have cancer is that they are going to die. My free post on Substack.
markliebenow.substack.com/p/maybe-dyin...

Troglodytes of Whimsy and Mercy Brian Doyle

Troglodytes of Whimsy and Mercy open.substack.com/pub/marklieb... This week's post is on Brian Doyle, a creative and compassionate writer who died a few years ago from brain cancer. This is my new Substack account, so please consider subscribing for FREE!

Talking to the Trees When a friend received bad news about her cancer, I thought, “I’ll talk to the trees.” Bear with me for a moment. I used to light candles,...

Talking to the Trees

When a friend received bad news about her cancer, I thought, “I’ll talk to the trees.” Bear with me. I used to light candles and pray for those who needed support. But talking to the trees seemed to be the right thing to do here.
markliebenow.blogspot.com/2025/09/talk...

John Donne and Cancer In 1993, Margaret Edson wrote a play called Wit that talks about the experience of having cancer and going through chemotherapy. In the ea...

John Donne and Cancer

In 1993, Margaret Edson wrote a play called Wit that talks about the experience of having cancer and going through chemotherapy. She finds refuge in the Holy Sonnets of John Donne.

markliebenow.blogspot.com/2025/08/john...

The Spaces Between Knowing and Understanding review of Renée M. Sgroi, In a Tension of Leaves and Binding , Guernica Editions, Toronto, 2024 Connecting grief with nature resonates wit...

The Thin Spaces Between

Renée Sgroi weaves grief into nature in her elegant and evocative book of poetry In a Tension of Leaves and Binding (Guernica Editions, Toronto, 2024). Sgroi finds parallel stories of wanting, loneliness, loss.

This is my review.
widowersgrief.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...

The Healing of Therapeutic Massage I’m delighted that my short essay “After Cancer Treatment, a Restorative Touch,” on the healing power of therapeutic massage for cancer pa...

My essay “After Cancer Treatment, a Restorative Touch,” on the healing power of therapeutic massage for cancer patients, is published in the new issue of the American Journal of Nursing. This therapy is invaluable.
markliebenow.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-...
#therapeuticmassage @ajnonline.bsky.social

Birds and Grief Review - Birdology , by Carolyne Van Der Meer Carolyne Van Der Meer guides us into paying attention to what is going on in the outdoors, e...

BIRDS AND GRIEVING
If you went into nature to get away from all the sorrow at home, you found that you felt accepted there with all of your brokenness. In her chapbook Birdology, Carolyne Van Der Meer explores how birds helped her make this connection.

widowersgrief.blogspot.com/2025/06/bird...

Moving account, and I love the hesitations in your language.

Having any kind of cancer is unsettling, and having prostate cancer is something that men need to talk about because they need the support of other men who have it. #prostatecancer

www.facebook.com/share/p/19Mv...

Breast Cancer and the Health Care System Anne Boyer’s book about surviving aggressive triple-negative breast cancer, The Undying, takes the reader inside what it feels like to end...

Breast Cancer and the Health Care System

Anne Boyer’s book about surviving aggressive triple-negative breast cancer, The Undying, takes the reader inside what it feels like to endure chemotherapy, and the inequalities of a for-profit health care system.
markliebenow.blogspot.com/2025/04/brea...

What will be left of our morality if we do not act morally now?

Gilda and Cancer Holy Fools Day Today, April 1, I honor one of the saints of laughter – Gilda Radner, who looked for humor in the midst of her cancer, and ...

Even when she was struggling with ovarian cancer, Gilda Radner looked for the humor in it. She said "My life had made me funny and cancer wasn't going to change that."
#cancer #humor #Gilda'sClub
markliebenow.blogspot.com/2025/04/gild...

Looking Back with Mark Liebenow: Finding The Words Waiting For Us Chautauqua contributor Mark Liebenow reflects on his writing process and the power of words, offering some great advice for young writers.

Some good news. The interview on writing that I did with the Chautauqua Literary Journal went up on their website today, along with three of the essays that I’ve published with them over the years. It’s a new series called Look Back.

chautauquajournal.wixsite.com/website/post...

Prostate Men
Every cancer is traumatic, but getting prostate or breast cancer also messes with our self-esteem.
markliebenow.blogspot.com

The Cancer Poetry of Katie Farris Katie Farris, Standing in the Forest of Being Alive , Alice James Books, 2023 Katie Farris showed up on my doorstep the other day, with poe...

Sometimes a book of poetry about cancer comes along that speaks to the heart of how it feels to have cancer. Katie Farris describes her journey with cancer honestly, with courage and insight. markliebenow.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-... #poetry #cancer #KatieFarris

Mark Liebenow When I walk into nature, the spirituality of the world opens up.

Ringing the Bell

There’s a tradition with cancer that you ring a large brass bell when you're cured. This is to acknowledge your joy, and to thank the nurses and doctors who have cared for you. I didn’t ring my bell, and wish I had.

Full essay at: www.markliebenow.blogspot.com
#bell #cancer #cure

Mark Liebenow When I walk into nature, the spirituality of the world opens up.

Finding Out You Have Cancer

The difficulty in treating cancer is in determining where it is, and how much there is. I had no symptoms of prostate cancer, but my annual PSA test with my primary revealed I did.

Full essay at: www.markliebenow.blogspot.com
#cancer #prostatecancer #breastcancer

Having a knee replaced is not fun, but the compassion of the nurses and therapists make the transition to becoming a biomechanical being tolerable. My short essay in Pulse, the medical journal from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
pulsevoices.org/stories/the-...

Loving Horror but Hating Death

I’m delighted to have an essay in Paper Dragon out of Drexel University. “Poking Death’s Boundary” explores our fascination with horror movies, cemeteries, walking with grief, and dancing with death like a distant cousin.
drexelpaperdragon.com/poking-death...

I eat the Quiche of Liberty so that we may live unfettered by racism, sexism, and the tyranny of self-serving politicians. I eat the quiche of liberty with the huddled masses of Emma Lazarus – quiche with bacon, cheese, onions, mushrooms, and spinach all mixed together in the crust of community.

Chautauqua Journal

I'm thrilled to have an essay in the Chautauqua Journal. “Speaking of That … Which We Weren’t,” is about how we think we’re brave to talk to someone who is grieving, but we don’t listen to them telling us how it feels, and we pat them on the shoulder when what they need is a really good, long hug.

Mark Liebenow: FRAGILE, FRACTURE, FEAR • Cleaver Magazine Mark Liebenow writes about nature, grief, prostate cancer, and the wisdom of fools. His work has published in numerous literary journals.

I am delighted that my essay “Fragile, Fracture, Fear” was published earlier this year by Cleaver Magazine, and this is the link:
www.cleavermagazine.com/fragile-by-m...

Thomas Merton and John Howard Griffin
 
I’m delighted to have an essay in the spring issue of The Merton Seasonal. It’s called “In the Hermitage with John Howard Griffin,” and it’s about the months that Griffin spent living in Thomas Merton’s hermitage as he worked on Merton’s biography.

I don’t know how to pray. I only know to sit in a quiet place and listen. widowersgrief.blogspot.com/2024/03/pray...

Find a bench where you can pause your busyness.

In the morning, before you begin your activities, find a quiet place where you can listen to the day opening up.