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"Poetry has always been my persistent passion, my voice, my means of communication.  During my life, I have written poems, published my first book, taught creative writing, and then chosen nursing as a means of listening to patients.

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Unfortunately death has become an unexpected deadline.  At fifty-six, I have been diagnosed with two glioblastomas (brain tumors) which have restricted my ability to continue work.

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All my years as a poet and as a nurse are now woven together into becoming a patient.  My images and metaphors from poetry, integrated into all I have learned as a nurse, are drawing me into the deepest role of being a patient.  

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Since publishing my first book, The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe, I have spent the last thirty years working on poems for my second book, The Weight of a Soul.  Many of the poems I have included here bring together my own perspective as well as my experience as a nurse listening to patients faced with illness and death.  I hope my years of poetry have provided enough insight.  

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My life is closing.  I am grateful to those who are interested in reading these poems."  

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Laura Gilpin​

Fairhope, Alabama

December, 2006