Description

The poems in this lyrical collection trace a path from Patricia McKernon Runkle s childhood to her mother s young womanhood and eventual decline into dementia. They hold the sorrow of losing her to the long silence of falling and the wonder of a flawless presence amid the wreckage of memory loss. For even when her mother s memory had seemed to vanish, she had flashes of lucidity when she was unmistakably herself. In To the You Who Used to Be, Runkle becomes a witness and companion as she explores loss and wholeness in the distilled wisdom of free verse and the crystalline brevity of haiku.