Daughter, While I'm Still Here : Finishing Line Press : 9798888385579 : 17 May 2024 : Both intellectually stimulating an emotionally engaging, the poems in daughter, while i'm still here capture a mother's desire to convey what over eight decades of experiences and learnings have revealed about the fragility of life, relationships and happiness, which she shares in poignant moments of recollection during her final weeks in hospice. Each poem vividly reveals fragments of an enduring connection with her daughter, sometimes wound into stories about teeth, snapshots or shoes, but more often in an opening up of her most vulnerable self. There are reasons to cry, laugh, and grieve as she allows her daughter to share and feel her thoughts, hopes, and dreams, even as she tries to push back against the dementia that ultimately robs her of her words. Four dream-like photos contribute to the poems' emotional impact.