collects a lifetime of thought and writing by Alice Friman, presenting poems of passion and permission, gravity and humor, alongside a great deal of truth telling peppered with the salt of invention. Here even the dead clink glasses and remain as alive and present as ever. Here the old stories abide and the new ones, written at the tail end of a life, face the inevitable with clear-eyed candor, wit, and grace. As Stephen Corey writes in his introduction, “Friman’s poetry is still kicking ass and breaking hearts as she steams toward ninety,” and captures the world of a distinctive poet whose work is vivid, understandable, and emotionally honest.