Notes from a Marine Biologist's Daughter renders in poems the inheritance of a love of the wild, love of language, love of family. Loss, grief, and recovery resolve in a closely observed, deeply felt connection to nature.


In these mostly lyrical quiet poems, we find tenderness in an animal's behavior, comfort in the sounds of a storm, an awareness that nature has a life that does not depend on us, that needs to be left alone, but from which we can learn and, when we need it, be comforted. The tonal range of these poems is extensive, including exuberance and grief, seeking and confirmation, solitude and solidarity.


Two worlds are closely noted in this collection of autobiographical poems, the childhood world of Wrightsville Sound and the adult daughter's world of south Florida. Infused in the experience of both of these worlds, past and present, is the enduring presence and power of a marine biologist mother.