Memoir

At the funeral
the priest said, our sister enters the gates of paradise
in a company of angels. Mom, were you waiting?
I have no mother, your mother's gone, and
the you that lives on, me, I must learn she is
enough. From this room I see snow. Snow. Tomorrow is your
birthday. This is for you. The snow is melting. I've built
a fire. Mom, the fingers of the dead
woman play as if in some paradise, paradise, and
your mouth pinkens to breathing red and smiles. I am here,
your daughter, wanting. When there are gray
clouds, I don't mind the gray clouds. I'm all for you. All from you

Honor Moore's first collection of poetry, "Memoir", shows her dazzling talent to turn her real-life experiences into universal emotions. First published in 1988, the collection takes the reader through the heart of strong experience in the shadow of AIDS, sexual abuse, the struggle for accommodation between the sexes, nuclear threat – the multilayered fabric of modern life and love. The poems include sapphics, sestinas, and even a hendecasyllabic arrangement, showing Moore's power to breathe new life into traditional forms. "Memoir" is part of the Carnegie Mellon Classic Contemporaries Series, which reissues significant early books by important contemporary poets. Moore's book is the one hundredth title in the series.