First Thoughts: Madelaine Nerson MacNamara turns serendipities into poetry in The Riddle of Waterfalls

MADELAINE Nerson MacNamara nursed a dream of becoming a poet when she was in her teens.

She thought it was “the highest thing you could do” and she read a lot of poetry, including Baudelaire, who became her “lodestar” later in life.

Madelaine’s French businessman father put her off becoming a poet, pointing out the difficulty of making a living out of writing.