Sara Kallock (1987-2024)
Sara’s 38th birthday is April 15.
Sara Kallock was an active DignityMA participant for the last months of her life.
Sara was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic cancer of the pancreas in mid-September 2023.
She became involved with DignityMA after months of advocating on behalf of her father who was a veteran receiving poor care in a nursing home. She was successful in getting him transferred to another facility. After his death, she committed her advocacy efforts to others by her involvement with DignityMA.
Sara was an accomplished author, scholar, artist, and seasoned political and social activist. Sara completed her Ph.D in Politics from the University of Manchester, .United Kingdom. She was a faculty member at Merrimac College in North Andover, MA
Her interests spanned reading, wildlife, nature, spirituality, volunteer work, gardening, farming, activism, printmaking, ceramics, poetry, singing, crafts, politics, and philosophy.
Sara devoted her 37 years to defending the vulnerable and forging her own path with unyielding purpose.
May she rest in peace and her spirit and advocacy continue on through the efforts of others.
Leaving Nothing but an Opening
By Sara Kallock
What if I died leaving nothing?
Surely, I have so little to give.
The woman in the next room
Is searching for a hospital bed.
She and her friend are waiting
For the call that a room has been found.
Something is wrong on top
Of her cancer and they are anxious.
They are killing time talking.
I can hear the angle of sharp
tones and hostile words.
“Bus loads” “Pelosi” “ Immigrant”
Words that say we are full
even in your need.
There is a crisis and I can hear
Their words choose a side: go away.
The crisis is a child arriving alone
At a checkpoint with a
desiccated bottle.
The crisis is: a Haitian student
Just settling in,
now being moved across the state.
The crisis is: a drowned body
Bobbing limply down the Rio Grande.
The crisis is: a family huddled
on concrete behind bars
awaiting deportation.
The nurse comes into their room,
They have found a bed.
They have not been told to go away.
I don’t know if I will leave much
to this world.
But I hope I’ll have never said
go away.
Sara’s poem was published in The Radical Catholic, Worcester, MA, April/May 2024