but in fact / we are as we are / together, alone, as you can see, / with elusive memories for company, /with your wisps of hair / disappearing as gently as breath. 'After Chemo' Ahead of Us is Dennis Haskell's eighth book of poetry. Dedicated to his wife Rhonda, who lost her battle with cancer after a long illness, Ahead of Us contains poems of love, of two people forging a partnership together and of the inevitable end of that partnership when one person dies. It is a celebration of life and and of the fragile thread that holds us here.