About Perfume River A lot went into this collection of poems, particularly as it took so long to pull the collection together. I'm one of those unfortunates who looked up my life expectancy and assumed I had years to get it together in the poetry department. 78 years? Please, I'm not even 50. I lived my life chasing bylines for my articles, and then agents for my novel manuscripts, and my poems...well, my poems. They sat getting written and accumulating time. Until one day I learned that those life expectancy lists were missing a couple of words. The set of numbers should begin with "Anywhere from...: " to ..".Right here." Stage 4 renal cell carcinoma. Average five year life expectancy after diagnosis: eight percent. Hope is a carousel, spinning into the future.