May of 2022 saw the death of Deborah Hickman, the author's wife of 42 years; her death was complicated by early dementia. This book does not shy away from expressing the tough realities of that loss and examines the three phases of this time period.
Something significant occurs and change happens and, at some point of clarity, it becomes possible to see a before, a during and an after. With this collection of poems, the author speaks with intimate honesty about the events, people and feelings experienced in each of these three seasons: the space of time before it happened, the stretch during which it was happening, and that period after when the impact is felt most profoundly.

Although the poems gathered here mostly focus on the loss of his wife, Heide also explores other relationships with their own stories that fall into the same pattern of three.

Along with grief, the author calls up his own irrepressible sense of curiosity and even humour to create a journey that is at once a moving tribute and an expansive canvass of human emotions. It's a journey that will have familiar echoes for all readers.

Heide’s first collection of poetry, Poems of a Very Simple Man, was published by Fiddlehead Press. Writing primarily for the theatre, Heide has four books in print and has had dozens of plays professionally produced in almost every Canadian province and abroad. He has been the recipient of several awards for his writing. Heide is also well-known as a director and producer of both theatre and music.

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