Talking to the dead

new selected poems

Plot

A tender work of mourning, this poetry collection—owing to the remembered words of a much-loved husband—recalls the author’s life before marriage and considers a future after her husband’s death. Imagining that future, she confronts the myths of an afterlife, a belief in God, her debts to other poets, and her dependence on friends and children. At the center of these beautiful lyrics—written with complete control of rhythm and tone—it is a man, rather than grief, that appears clearly.