A laugh-out-loud, make-you-cry tribute to that roller coaster ride we call the mother-daughter relationship. Selected as a Top Ten Catholic Hardcover and excerpted in Blue Mountain Arts and other anthologies, this sweet and sassy collection of poems explores the best--and bittersweet--moments of raising a daughter. The result is a wonderful keepsake gift ideal for special occasions such as confirmation, graduation, Mother's Day, wedding day, or the birth of a daughter or granddaughter. Plenty of room to record special memories of your own! $12.95

Budding Beauty

I catch you
trying on my bra.
Like a doe made immobile by
the glare of headlights,
you stand frozen in my stare--
a sight at once
lurid and adorable.
(A definite Kodak moment,
though I wouldn't dare.)
Taking in
the tangled heap of lace
on the bed before you,
the tubes and compacts
splayed on the counter behind you,
and the pitiful picture of your sweet lips
smeared
with "Cinnamon Sin" and "Mango Mama,"
(You're mixing colors? That's great!)
by a hand whose pudgy contours
will still grip lollipops better than lipstick
for some years to come,
I suppress my smile
and give an apprizing nod.
"Good choice.
Beige doesn't show through."

From Dancing with My Daughter (Loyola Press, 2004)