Diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in February 1999, Ric Masten has survived for nine years and counting. For decades, Masten's unique mix of minstrel-ministry and poetic philosophy has challenged and inspired audiences in many settings - conferences, colleges, schools, and churches across the country. These poems reveal his humorous, unflinching, and edgy take on mortality and living with illness. From the book: finally the hypochondriac has more than windmills to tilt with the philosopher arming himself with exactly the proper petard an explosive statement found in an e-mail message beneath a cancer combatant's name a perfect end line, wily and wise, reads: I ask God: "How much time do I have before I die?" "Enough to make a difference." God replies