Internationally renowned author Jane Yolen has composed a sequence of
tough, angry, and moving love poems that express grief and gratitude for
her late husband David, as witness to his treatment for and passing from
cancer, and the ongoing loss that is felt years after his death.
In one poem, Yolen--a prize-winning poet, speaks of his shallow bird
breath/beating beneath the cage of his chest bones. In another: Do not
help me to forget./Help me to remember. And in a third:
You have gone before me into winter,
Into spring, into summer, somehow
A consummate time traveler
I can never catch up to,
Always a season ahead.
Jane Yolen, often called the Hans Christian Andersen of America, is
the author of over three hundred books, including Owl Moon, The
Devil's Arithmetic, and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight. The books
range from rhymed picture books and baby board books through middle
grade fiction, poetry collections, nonfiction, novels, and story
collections for young adults and adults, and two books of adult poetry.
Her books and stories have won two Nebula Awards, a World Fantasy Award,
a Caldecott Medal, the Golden Kite Award, three Mythopoeic awards, two
Christopher Medals, a nomination for the National Book Award, and the
Jewish Book Award. She is also the winner (for body of work) of the
Kerlan Award, the World Fantasy Association Lifetime Achievement Award,
and the Catholic Library's Regina Medal.
