RAIN TO ROOT

Poems of meeting grief and grace

In this debut collection of poems, Rain to Root, Poems of meeting grief and grace, Kim Birdsong explores the often fierce and disorienting landscape of grief. In the year following the death of her son, Kim turned toward writing to try to cope with the depth of her sadness and to come to terms with the unavoidable truth of impermanence. Her raw and honest poetry follows her journey from the shocking first moments of pain and despair, through a period of questioning, adjustment and reorientation, and finally to revelation and acceptance.

Through these accessible verses, Kim invites readers to join her on this journey into the dark soul territory of grief. As she takes up this apprenticeship with sorrow, she tracks her inner landscape, becoming curious and paying close attention to its shifting contours and pairs this with her abiding love of the landscape. These efforts lead her through this dark terrain as she slowly gains footing on new ground.

You will hear a full range of expression and emotion— from sadness and frustration to anger and confusion and gratitude— contained in variety of forms from lyric and free verse to letter poems, list poems, structured verse and haiku. With a Foreword by Francis Weller, Kim prays that you will also feel the grace that comes from bowing to what is alive in the depths of the heart.

Available to order online, in person from your local bookseller, or in the Monterey area at River House Books, 208 Crossroads Blvd, Carmel, CA.

Reviews

  • “In one of the transcendent, heartbreaking, and ultimately healing poems of Kim Birdsong’s Rain to Root, she describes falling on her knees to Earth, which she calls “the only altar left.” Indeed, this whole book—steeped in both grief and love—brings us back to the altar of every moment here on a planet of “continuous mulching,” which is “forever accepting/whatever comes/again and again.” At times beset by inevitable loss, and at other times “distracted by beauty/by bounty,” these entrancing poems reveal how we too might learn to accept, and even embrace, all the sorrows and joys that come our way in this holy, harrowing life.”

    James Crews, author of Unlocking the Heart: Writing for Mindfulness, Courage & Self-Compassion and editor of How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude & Hope

  • “In Rain to Root, Kim Birdsong leads us through the changing terrains of grief. In the first poem, she writes, “Let yourself be unpeeled, unhinged, unmade, unsure.” Such impossible invitation. And yet poem after poem, heart stretched wide by loss, she shows us how we might go from praying to becoming the prayer itself. These poems are a testament to transformation, an inspiration, a gift.”

    Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, author of The Unfolding and All the Honey and host of The Poetic Path

  • “Kim Birdsong’s poems in Rain to Root gently, relentlessly pierce through the veils of illusion that cloud our hearts from the reality of impermanence. With probing compassion and courageous curiosity, she reveals in real-time the naked truth: in this life where everything we love will indeed be lost, our deep hearts burn with the twin powers of grief and grace. By allowing herself to be reduced and alchemized by her own specific, inescapable grief, and generously visible in the process, Kim offers us the invitation at the core of every moment, including this one: Wake up! Feel it all! Love fiercely ~ and let go.”

    Brooke McNamara, poet & author of Feed Your Vow &Bury the Seed; Zen teacher, priest, & lineage holder

  • “In the face of a loss no parent can fathom, Kim reveals the complexities of a living grief path. Her poetry invites us along, poignantly stimulating deep resonance with being human. This book is a companion for anyone navigating the tumultuous seas of loss, reminding us that in the shared human experience of grief, we are never truly alone.”

    Jennifer Allen, LMFT, ATR-BC author of Boneknowing

  • “In Rain to Root, Kim Birdsong has gifted us with a collection of poems that announce themselves with an authentic voice of someone who has undertaken the deep descent into soul through her encounters with loss. She has kept faith with a prolonged vigil in the darkness. This is not easy work. Kim did not turn away. She made a commitment to let grief reshape her and draw out of her, the depths of soul. She was devoted to working with her sorrow, giving it shape in the forms of these exquisite offerings. These poems are an act of revelation, a soul offering, and they are simultaneously, universal.”

    Francis Weller, author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow

Excerpt from the Foreword by Francis Weller

This is a prayer book, a meditation, a gathering of potent medicine for the growing Clan of the Brokenhearted. Read them like you would from holy scripture. You have entered sacred ground. Some of these poems will make you tremble in their raw truth telling. Others will call up tears from the cave of the heart “spilling onto Earth / the only altar left.”

Francis Weller is the author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow.

Please find his work on FrancisWeller.net.

from Rain to Root

…offer incense to your grief

Set it on fire. Light it

with the embers of your essence,

watch the glowing tip of this precious gift

reshape itself as it reshapes you,

and feel it alchemize

into love, into gratitude,

into praise for your life.