In her acclaimed collections Happy Family and Music Minus One, Jane Shore traced her life from childhood to coming of age to parenthood. Now, in A Yes-or-No Answer, Shore etches the persistence of the past in a life that has moved into a mature new phase as a member of the baby boom generation. Recalling her Jewish childhood in New Jersey, living in the apartment above the family's clothing store, Shore lovingly imagines her parents, now gone, reunited with relatives over a Scrabble board in the afterlife. The poet's teenage daughter sorts through the "vintage" clothes of her mother's own hippie days. Cherished items left behind -- an address book, a piano, an easy chair, a favorite doll -- continue to haunt the living.
The poems in A Yes-or-No Answer dignify memory through precise detail, with a voice that will resonate for a generation at a crossroads.
In these intimate poems, everyday objects become archives of love and loss.
- Poems About Memory: A mother’s velvet chair, a blue address book, a favorite doll—cherished items left behind that hold the ghosts of a family’s past.
- Mother Daughter Poems: A daughter’s discovery of her mother's hippie-era clothes and old diaries creates a tender, sometimes funny, bridge between generations.
- Jewish American Experience: From a New Jersey childhood above the family clothing store to imagining relatives playing Scrabble in heaven, these poems trace a rich cultural heritage.
- Reflections on Aging: A poignant and clear-eyed look at being part of the baby boom generation, facing the loss of parents, and finding grace in a new phase of life.