Wholesale Someone Else, Narrative Poetry by Ann Kammerer

Poetry, chapbook, 40 pages, from Bottlecap Features. A woman wanders, handing out flower petals. A man mouths the words of pop songs, tapping out time on the bed rail. We hear conversations with ghosts of friends, family, and strangers, and watch preparations for a dinner that happened years ago. Meanwhile, two men anticipate a big game or a championship bout, while a woman reclaims her beauty, gazing at high school photographs. In Someone Else, Ann Kammerer presents poetic sketches of people with dementia and chronic illness as they live in extended care. Her simple portraits invite readers to travel with each character into interior worlds of re-imagined glories that enliven late adulthood.