Kirjahaku

"Every poem in this collection is a humble artifact birthed from heartbreak over the suffering of the world. This is is what inspires me to dig underneath these symptoms in search of a fundamental cause or cure. I've become convinced that the 'cure' has something to do with listening deeply, and this is only possible when we commit to looking inside for our own bias and blindness before pointing the finger outside. I am not always so good at this, and so it seems to me that unplugging from the collective churning long enough to question my conditioning and deeply reflect on love and fear, the darkness hidden in my unconscious, the nature of self and of reality, is the most vital political action I can take at this time of heightened collective fear and insecurity. Such contemplation is not a replacement for engagement, but a cleansing of it. I don't want to add to that cauldron by speaking and acting from my own unexamined ignorance, blindness and survival instinct."-from the introduction by the author

NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD WINNER. The last time Lata saw her Aunt Charlotte, she was standing in the attic window waving at her, a solid wall of fire behind her. Was it a suicide? An act of cruelty and madness? Or a form of fierce love? The story takes us back to find clues in Charlotte's childhood, and in the events leading up to the fire. We learn of her deep connection to her Aunt Marie, who introduced her to the power of plants and trees to heal. We learn of her relationship to Jesse, who she meets in the small stretch of city forest that has been protected by the Sisters of St. Francis. We learn of her fierce desire to protect the trees and the spirits who live among them - and the lineage of those who are called to open themselves fully to love, whatever the cost.