After her husband's death, Molly Peacock realised she was not living the received idea of a widow's mauve existence but instead was experiencing life in all colours. These gorgeous poems-joyful, furious, mournful, bewildered, sexy, devastated, whimsical and above all, moving-composed in sonnet sequences and in open forms, designed in four movements (After, Before, When and Afterglow)-illuminate both the role of the caregiver and the crystalline emotions one can experience after the death of a cherished partner. With her characteristic virtuosity, her fearless willingness to confront even the most difficult emotions, and always with buoyancy and zest, Peacock charts widowhood in the twenty-first century.

From “Touched:”

After you died, I felt you next to me,

and over months you entered gradually

into that lake and disappeared. Not gone,

but so internalised you’re not next to me.