Resilient Spirit: Poems for Lorraine by Nancy Esther James

“What remains after dementia takes its toll stands at the heart of Nancy Esther James’s Resilient Spirit, dedicated to her late sister-in-law. A tanka-like interspersing of poems and journal entries, this is a loving portrait of a woman whose life was diminishing, but whose spirit remained at peace. Lorraine lives in the ‘timeless present / where five minutes ago never happened.’ As her capabilities diminish (‘I wish I knew what’s happening to my head’), Lorraine is still able to make small jokes (‘will ‘transparent’ soap make [me] disappear?’), and she exits, laughing. James uses, as her final images, a dish garden that ‘will not give up’ and ‘a living violet in its own green pot.’ These are notes from ‘another world,’ ones that will not fail to move the reader.”

–Barbara Crooker, author of Radiance, Line Dance, and More

“Full of tender memories juxtaposed against the hard edges of reality, Nancy Esther James captures the magic and story of Lorraine, an elderly relative suffering from dementia. She channels that information into observation and intimacy in 13 well-wrought poems interspersed with journal excerpts, a before-and-after chronicling of Lorraine’s condition in poetry and commentary, ‘…even as memory dimmed/in winter when her wings/lost their steady rhythm/ but never their love.’ These poems, rich and full of compassion and understanding, allow us to feel the writer’s respect for the subject matter—the precise language that sings our own story of survival, of loss and triumph.”

–Rosaly DeMaios Roffman, author of I Want to Thank My Eyes and Going to Bed Whole

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]