I'm slow in telling you about this book, which was published a few years ago. The poems in it circle around my mother, as I watched her disappear into the loss of who she was.

Bavetta does what few poets can manage. She writes about her mother without getting maudlin or wallowing in the pain of her death. She does so by using her artist’s eye to let us see for ourselves. We then relate her poems to losses of our own. She also brings her poet’s ear to the task. Pantoums and villanelles, with their repeated lines, are perfect for describing rerun conversations and the sameness of days in dementia. Instead of weighing us down with loss, she lifts us, showing us what it means to be human.

—Alarie Tennille

Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/No-Longer-at-t...