This is a tender book of poetry, written by a young mother of two, as she was dying of cancer. Ms. Cheyenne wrote most of these poems during the last three years of her battle. The reader will never forget the haunting rhythms transcending these pages. A divorced single mother, raising two sons, fights for her life against cancer. In the three years before her death, she keeps going by writing her deepest feelings in free verse poetry. This is Tests Of Being. Here Nur Cheyenne opens her heart on her relationships with family, friends, physicians, death and God.
"Nur's poetry has gripped me. Often one of her phrases would stay on my mind, riveting me with a kind of truth that amazed me and hurt me and blessed me." --Patsy Kelly Mack, United Methodist Minister
"It is not the arresting phrase, the telling image, the haunting cadence, although not a few may be found here . . . rather it is the devastating honesty of her voice. Her rage, her fear, her terrible grief at the approach of death. . . "The trick, I think, is learning to breathe light," she says, and she is honest about that too. . . the moments of faith, of hope against hope, of courage, of humor even. . . There are moments too when the Light she breathed in she also breathes out to all of us. Long after we have forgotten every word she ever wrote, we will remember her." --Frederick Buechner, author of many celebrated works of fiction and non-fiction
"These painfully honest poems are what remain of a brave Spirit's journey back to God. They are a gift." --Mark Nepo, author, teacher of poetry and creative writing, State University of New York at Albany
"... a poet of remarkable talent... she was not the least fearful of being open and vulnerable." --Eda Leshan, author, from her column in NEWSDAY, May 9, 1992
"message is so powerful... she had a keen ability to express herself and deal with reality in honest terms... This poetry will help others..." --James Garrett, CSW Psychotherapist
"... the poetic gem of a courageous person who searched out and fathomed the mystery of suffering and dying and who has offered from this crucible a testimony of life, love and hope." --Kenneth Vaux, Director of The Center For Ethics, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
