Jersey City/Hoboken-based poet Jack Wiler once claimed he had come back from the dead. This was because he had been diagnosed with AIDS and, lacking health insurance, failed to get it treated early, causing massive loss of muscle tissue and a journey that brought him close to death.
On Oct. 20, Wiler died at 57, leaving behind a legacy of quality literature that included a poetic account of his battle with AIDS.
“I had a sense that spiritual beings were watching over me, and that I was being given a choice. I could choose to live or die, and I chose to live,” Wiler said during an interview with the Hudson Reporter in 2006.