Catherine Morocco’s poems are a poignant farewell to a vital man, lover, and life-partner whose descent into Lewy body dementia creates the arc of this gorgeously vulnerable collection. Erotically charged and domestically grounded, the poems illuminate lovers who are muses for each other even while facing the loss of his mind and body. Cathy’s poems are lucid and brave: “she faces into glare / willing her hair to catch fire.” As wife and caregiver, Catherine chronicles devotion. As a poet, she crafts so much more: “as I keep vigil through / your thrashing night. . . I am the singing mouths.” This poetic goodbye to a great love is a journey of gratitude — each poem sings with a sense of loss and thrilling thank you. —Kelly DuMar, Jinx and Heavenly Calling The exquisite poems in Catherine Morocco’s All Fall Down unveil the excruciating arc of a debilitating illness. Yet, it is a love story, told with tenderness and honesty — the robust living of earlier times, the gradual loss. In a brilliant move, the poet brings into the story The Book of Kells, the beasts stalking its illuminated calligraphy: dove, peacock, wolf, stag, lion. These “beastly” poems embody the poet’s, or primal, emotions: “wedged in crevices, ladders, lattices, / wrangling with the lion devil in your brain—” and add a mythical significance: “hell-bent like the stag in Gospel John, pursuing devil dragons. . .” Imagery throughout the poems is so colorful, palpable, enhanced by expertly crafted musicality, that the poems move, breathe, hurt and love as living beings. —Diana Cole, Songs by Heart and Between Selves All Fall Down is a poignant and evocative collection of poems tracing in detail the descent of the poet’s husband into dementia. “I’ll lower and hoist myself again out of the slough we’re in,” reassures herself and the reader, and conveys her inner strength and fortitude. Any person who cares for a loved one with dementia will feel comforted, strengthened, and less alone after reading this beautiful book. —Claire B. Willis, social worker, Opening to Grief with co-author Marnie Crawford Samuelson
