Dancing With My Daughter
Named a Top Ten Catholic Hardcover!
Any of us who have ever been a daughter--or had a mother--can relate to the precarious, emotional roller coaster ride of that relationship. Though this book is drawn from many years worth of research, friendships and experiences, it came together as I was caring for my mother in the late stages of Alzheimer's--giving me a perspective I would never have otherwise known. My hope is that these poems will help mothers and daughters see what life looks like from the other's perspective, and to realize that sharing our feelings, rather than shutting each other out, is a far better choice. This book is a great choice for book clubs, too! (For Reader Questions, click here.)
Hardcover - ISBN #978-0829417685
Available from most online booksellers or order direct from the publisher: Loyola Press
Reviews
Curled Up with a Good Kid's Book
Named one of "30 Best Parenting Books" by RadicalParenting.com!
". . . .delightful, touching, absolutely dead-on poems." — Laurel F., daughter, mother, and grandmother
"Jayne Jaudon Ferrer possesses an unmatchable wit and precision of language which shine through in her latest collection of poems . . . Mothers and daughters clash, cry, yell, and console each other through life's passions . . .
—Christine Hohlbaum, author of Diary of a Mother, SAHM I Am, and American Housewive Abroad
"Your book was the highlight of a very personal pre-wedding morning that my daughter and I spent together. Your poems are so right on about raising and coping with a daughter that I was able to make notes on almost every page reflecting a memory of our life as mother and daughter. Your words were perfectand jogged my memory of some precious and some not precious moments!" —Holly Scher, Hendersonville, NC
"You must know that when I packed to evacuate for Hurricane Frances, Dancing with My Daughter was packed up with my most treasured possessions!" —Jane Counts, Stuart, FL
". . . quite enjoyable and definitely an achievement in poetry . . . vivid and colorful metaphors . . . an honest and beautiful volume of poems on motherhood." —Zeno Vernyik, for Women Writers
"...poetry as colorful and passionate as the ‘Cinnamon Sin’ and ‘Mango Mama’ the daughter smears on her lips in ‘Budding Beauty.’"—Deb DiSandro, author of Tales of a Slightly Off Supermom: Fighting for Truth, Justice and Clean Underwear
"...endearing in so many ways...Ferrer’s poetry speaks to what is good with the world... 'hummingbirds and harvest moons and hugs' extolling the pure, glorious goodness of motherhood. On the page, Ferrer’s joy appears both palpable and tangible as she paints to life all the realities of raising a daughter. She strikes a witty universal chord as she describes the role of mothering as being 'chopped liver in panty hose, transportation with an attitude, a uterus with a wallet.' Dancing with my Daughter is an upbeat celebration, a poetic delicacy leaving you both fed, fortified and wanting more." —Glenis Redmond, award-winning performance poet and author of Backbone, Naming It, If I Ain’t African, and Word Power
Budding Beauty
I catch you
trying on my bra.
Like a doe made immobile by
the glare of headlights,
you stand frozen in my stare--
a sight at once
lurid and adorable.
(A definite Kodak moment,
though I wouldn't dare.)
Taking in
the tangled heap of lace
on the bed before you,
the tubes and compacts
splayed on the counter behind you,
and the pitiful picture of your sweet lips
smeared
with "Cinnamon Sin" and "Mango Mama,"
(You're mixing colors? That's great!)
by a hand whose pudgy contours
will still grip lollipops better than lipstick
for some years to come,
I suppress my smile
and give an apprizing nod.
"Good choice.
Beige doesn't show through."
Copyright ©2003 by Jayne Jaudon Ferrer
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