Waiting for the Mercy Ship

In "Waiting for the Mercy Ship," Lois Roma-Deeley’s unflinchingly intimate collection, “words carry the weight of holiness / like seeds in the belly of a sparrow.” Roma-Deeley is both family member and poet, but neither role can soften the experience.

She describes hope for her loved one’s recovery from depths of despair and mental illness by using a crafted, lyrical-narrative. She addresses several letters to a “Sweet Boy” with an overarching plea, “Contemplate the essence of who you are right now in this time and place.” But being present is difficult for those who naturally question existing in the present. Her Sweet Boy's journey for relief disintegrates, as do the letters to him after the first section closes. Roma-Deeley draws strength from her attempts to articulate tragic loss; she invites us to enter each of her poems, search around in them, and with hope prevailing, exit.

“There is an emptiness/in the leavings of sorrow” that Roma-Deeley won’t be able to escape. However, her resolve is clear, and “the last words [she] will ever utter / are not written here.”