The title poem and introductory essay deal with the issue of historical gender discrimination that capped women’s achievement potential.

The “Other Shards of a Life” refer to poems that portray everyday experiences we all share such as joy, loss, grief, ageing, letting go, and love.

The collection includes gentle insights, “The Littlest Cowgirl” and harsh realities “Not Misplaced,” as well as humor “My Old House,” nostalgia ” My Mother’s Baked Beans,” and letting go “Selling the Camp,” among many other topics.

One reader explained that reading this book is like having a conversation with a trusted friend where you exchange confidences and shared experiences.

The collection of poems, Leaves Falling Upon the Sky, a Reflection of a Life So Far, invites the reader to examine ordinary life events such as “Mowing the Lawn” or “Peeling Potatoes” from a unique perspective. Estelle’s way of seeing is, as the title suggests, like looking at autumn leaves drifting upward towards the sky rather than falling down to earth. By looking at our shared experiences from the humorous morning weigh-in depicted in “The Scale” to the serious business of caring for loved ones in “The Sick Child”, the writer shows that we can find meaning in the routines that make up a life. In the Reflections section, the poem “On Ageing” recalls the ageing Ulysses embarking on a new quest as an optimistic view that old age can be a beginning rather than an end. Finally, some thoughts on our shared Covid isolation in “My Library Fridge” and “Acres of Time” demonstrate the variety and relevance of this Reflection of a Life So Far. The works mentioned are just an excerpt from over 50 pieces in this book that I hope you will find inspiring as well as fun to read.