A second collection of deeply personal poems examining and bearing witness to every stage of the complex emotional landscape that is a woman's life. Katherine Lawrence lies to her mother, and others, justifying her mendacity by quoting Clare Booth Luce -"lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego and lessens the friction of social contact." A small muddy daughter battles her protective mother for her right to experience the fascinating world. As a girl, a young woman, the struggle with the social world continues. When she has a daughter of her own, things are a little different. She's not above a few familiar tricks to try and protect her own from the dangers she can remember so well. Then comes the times when life brings some really hard truths - a spouse with lies of his own, a husband with cancer, the death of loved ones. Are those helpful lies now more dangerous than they are comforting? In a mature, confident voice, Katherine Lawrence examines the tricky emotional terrain of a woman's darkness as well as lightness, providing valuable hints as to what may be lying in wait.