Author Description

Dappled Gold is a collection of poems that follow my journey through grief and the gradual return of hope. At the end of April 2023 our beloved family dog died very suddenly in the night. A few weeks later my wonderful mother passed away unexpectedly. Two painful losses so close to one another filled the months to follow with tears and heartache. Dappled Gold includes some very heartfelt poems which I hope will, in some small way, comfort people experiencing similar losses. It is not meant to be a morbid reflection, or a how to deal with grief book, but rather, a way to share my own discoveries of bright spots of light shining through the darkness, even during a period of great sadness. The collection also includes many other poems from the years of 2023 through 2024, that showcase my continuing love of nature, family, fantasy, horses, dogs, and cats. It also includes "Ode to the Opera House," as tribute to a well-loved historic building torn down in our town of Selby, South Dakota in February 2024. Dappled Gold is my third poetry collection and picks up chronologically where Green Pastures: Poems from Our Westward Move left off. I am delighted to once again include unique original artwork created by my daughter and illustrator, Noelle Rau. Also, a bonus section at the end includes several poems from school days and special commemorative poems.