Completing the Circle

From the darkest tunnel, through a prism, David A. Kates renders the life and death of his mother, Judy, with searing love and feisty insight. The voice of this young poet-son lingers long after the burn of the final phrase. —Martha Fuller

Instructor, Otis College of Art + Design, UCLA Extension, and UC Irvine Extension What does a person do when his mother passes away from metastatic breast cancer, and he inherits grief, a townhouse, guilt, lipstick-stained tissues, flowers, a baby grand piano, melancholia, and a highly altered life? He writes! Completing the Circle: A Son’s Memoir is vivid storytelling set in a much-loved home among the stark mountains and vast Pacific Ocean of Pacific Palisades, CA. Completing the Circle mixes poetry and short stories to shed light on cancer, mortality, the mother/son relationship, bereavement, happiness, and dealing with change. Completing the Circle concludes: “A lot of tears stain this book, As well as A lot of hope for a vigorous future.”