Floating Bridge, chapbook
Publisher Marketing: The Daughters of Eldery Women by Brenda Miller occupies the liminal space between growing up and growing old, shock and aftershock. With the repeated titles of her poems functioning as a mantra, Miller inhabits a narrative mindfulness, focusing on the maturing relationship between daughter and mother. She explores “what happens to a body / when you make it hold on // beyond its expiration date.” These poems speak to the quiet suffering of the human condition in “voices soft / as they’ll ever be” but ultimately it is “this grief before grief” that reminds us we only mourn what is loved.
Some books help us escape; Miller’s book keeps us wholly present.