A woman waits in the evening, a son helps a homeless man, a mother reflects on loss, an uncle’s war service as a stretcher bearer is honoured. Two babes on the cusp of the heavens contemplate what life will be when they are born. A mother watches a grown son sleep, a grandmother witnesses the birth of her first grandchild and a sister says goodbye.

Verse is a varied and compelling collection of poetry and prose poetry that encompasses: birth, death, and the whole glorious mess in-between that we call life. There’s doggerel about a cat, reasons to climb a tree at any age. There’s an ode to Robin McLaurin Williams, and poignant testament to the frailties of life, loss and longing.

Verse resonates with candour and courage, tempered by bewilderment and sadness when love is betrayed, when friendship is abandoned. It contains the whimsy of imagination, the humour of life’s misadventures. There’s no instruction, merely reflection and conjecture. A yearning for hope, faith and love.