Five of the 8 of us have been diagnosed with cancer. Mary Jo, third from the right, died of metastatic breast cancer on June 16, 2019. Aileen, second from the right, was diagnosed with lymphoma just as the pandemic was starting. We took on a poem-a-day challenge in April 2020 for National Poetry Month, and our first book was born.

With COVID-19 looming large and another sister facing a cancer diagnosis, seven sisters set out on a poem-a-day challenge to find their way through April of 2020. Shattered by the upheaval of a pandemic and battered by cancer, we were sustained by written word and sisterhood. Our Iowa farm roots bolster us, and though collaborations among us have been many, this is our first book.

COVID-19 and the political landscape were harsh realities in November, 2020. Weekly Zoom calls and shared writing helped this sisterhood of seven make sense of a highly sensitive time. What life dished up then, and over our lives, has been a smorgasbord. Write on! And when we did, we found ongoing resilience.

Our third poetry compilation opens with these words: “Much like the carpentry term, our style of sistering bolsters and bridges. It is an art form that refines itself over time.” As we grew into adulthood, and now approach the later decades of life, we have brought the best of our upbringing with us and learned the true meaning of sisterhood. From the varied energy of our natural surroundings to healing and aging, from perspective learned the hard way to learning to lighten up, we offer our latest batch of poetry.