The Last Time I Saw You

The Last Time I Saw You is both a poetic memoir and a tribute to noted New Orleans photographer and art critic D. Eric Bookhardt, who died in 2019. Author Diane Elayne Dees, a decades-long friend of Bookhardt's, introduces the reader to his views on art and his personal philosophies, which were strongly influenced by his practice of Buddhism. Dees invites the reader to explore Bookhardt's beloved New Orleans, from his uptown house next to the levee to the street cats he fed and cared for. The author also examines conflict within her relationship with Bookhardt, as well as her grief over his death; the chapbook was described by one reviewer as "a long letter to her late friend...floating her grief through balmy sea to sky."