While getting ready to go out of town, I'd been unintentionally abrupt to Deborah on the phone, so I called her back before bed once I was in Toronto, explaining my life was too full at the moment. I felt bad that I didn't have time for a new friendship.

We launched into a conversation that lasted well over an hour and a half (perhaps two and a half?). There I was, on a hotel bed, when I blurted out, "We have the bones for a really good friendship!" She said, "That's a really good line," and I realized we both liked it so much that I got up to write it down.

There wasn't one conversation with her when I didn't want to have another and now that sad longing will remain. I wish that I'd had her to my home, so she could peruse my environment, and I could have been to her apartment, to visit her in her element – to look at her books, the art on her wall, her balcony garden.

Our interests overlapped in huge ways, from our deep love of poetry to Israel to Detroit. We also felt the shock and despair not only of October 7th but that of October 8th with the same horrific gravity, so our world was made smaller. We remained stunned at the illogic of people who claimed to care about everyone but clearly bypassed Sharansky's 3Ds.

When I heard her read last fall at Kickstart Gallery in downtown Farmington, along with other local, wonderful poets for the launch of Jan Mordenski's Quadra-Project calendar, I couldn't get over Deborah's Kafka poem. I told her that I wanted to put together an anthology with her and Jan that would feature Michigan poets – the talent here needed more exposure! She was delighted. We spoke several other times and then ... suddenly, she was gone.

Here's what I most admired and will miss: her astute perceptions of the geo-political world-at-large – we were bouncing various names off each other because we didn't know all the other's references – her deep well of compassion, as well as her talent – so wide ranging: Yiddish! Classical piano. A self-taught poet ... The list goes on. Of course, all this was due to her insatiable curiosity coupled with a quick wit, which made her not only fascinating to talk with but also extremely fun.