March 5, 2022:

Acknowledgements

the many hands that make light work
the many sources of friendship
good advice from more than one friendly expert
    in more than one field

quite a few friends read drafts
publicists toiled in anonymity
the members of my women writers' lunch group
    picked up the checks

i'm grateful to my tireless editor
i've been lucky enough to have the support of my parents
i pity my long-suffering children who've gone without daddy
    lo these many winter eves

my teachers at pinewood
miss primrose in particular
who taught me the
    perennial power of plosives

thanks are of course due to my mother
for paying for my years of therapy
after making it necessary
    in the first place

my editor, Regthorpe, has believed in my ability
to finish this project
    despite many rumors to the contrary

and thus i offer
these countless carrots of atonement
where any errors are of course mine
as are each of the opinions
    herein contained