Pamela MacPherson, author of “Vigil: The Poetry of Presence,” will visit South Portland Public Library on Tuesday, Nov. 5 for an Author Talk. The presentation begins at 6 p.m.
“Vigil” is a collection of 65 poems written from the perspective of a seasoned hospice volunteer sitting with others in the last days and moments of their life.
MacPherson, a native of Burlington, Vermont, has been a community advocate for end-of-life care for more than three decades.
She has been involved with hospice care since taking the hospice volunteer training in 1985. From 1988 until 2004, MacPherson was in a volunteer coordinator position at the Visiting Nurse Associationof Chittenden and Grand Isle County.
Since retiring, she has done hospice volunteering and related committee work. Her focus, and where her heart is, is sitting vigil. She has done this with the hospice program as well as with the No One Dies Alone program at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
MacPherson’s poetry is the processing of her vigil sitting experiences. She wrote her poems in her private journal and never thought to publish them. However, when on a vigil sitting panel for local hospice volunteers, she read two poems from her journal.
Friends urged her to do more with this work. They felt that Pamela’s poetry would support those who do the work, create conversations in the community and guide others who wish to know how to be with those who are dying.
November is National Hospice and Palliative Care month. Programs across the country are reaching out to raise awareness about hospice and palliative care.
Through story and poetry, MacPherson hopes to make attendees feel more comfortable, and able to be fully present to others facing serious illness or the end of their life’s journey.
Books will be available for purchase and signing.
For more information about MacPherson, visit her website http://vigilthepoetryofpresence.com/.
For more information about this Author Talk, call circulation at 767- 7660, ext. 2, or stop by the Main Library.
Author Talks are made possible through the support of the Friends of the South Portland Public Library.
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