Self-Talk in the Garden

In her healing and incisive new collection, Christen Careaga writes with both mindfulness and a sense of presence that places us squarely back in our bodies, back in the calm center of our truest lives. While reading each of these grounding poems, "Breath billows / back into lungs. / Beating heart lands / with a gentle thud / in your waiting chest." The guiding intention of this book is a reassembly of self, and the reconnection of our bodies to the larger body of the Earth. Careaga writes with a voice that is "quiet, strong, insistent - / ready to be listened to / if you are even just a little bit willing." These poems invite us into a deeper relationship with ourselves and all the living beings we encounter in the garden of our everyday world.

-James Crews, author, Unlocking the Heart: Writing for Mindfulness, Courage & Self-Compassion

Reading this poetry collection is like throwing yourself a strong rope in rough waters. Grasping it, you're reeled into closer conversation with your life. How might you embody more courage and hope? Practice forgiveness? Cultivate gratitude? Endure separation and celebrate embrace? The rope is drifting near at hand. Reach for it, and be drawn deeper into the boat of spirit.

-Phyllis Cole-Dai, co-editor, Poetry of Presence: Volumes 1-2