Well Beyond the Grace Period

The title collection comprises 28 poems chronicling the descent of a non-believer through debility towards death. The early few poems are short, simple, and light. Later ones are longer and deal with the drudgery of clearing a house, adapting to the constraints of a retirement home, odd encounters there, love and sex in age, and seeing one's life in summary--always with flashes of wit. Later in the book there is an assemblage of poems, featuring 12 glimpses at a process of divorce that is basically modern and amicable--but troubling nonetheless. The final piece is a schoolboy's loving recollection of Sundays spent making music with down-and-out elders possessed of lovely souls. Reading this brief memoir first opens the heart to Mr. DeVore's poetry.