Something Good in All That Darkness by Isabelle Walker

Isabelle Walker‘s poems sparkle with both pain and wonder, a “birth song played / on a clarinet of sleet,” reminding us of “what it is to love the night.” Clouds of all shapes and sizes come and go in this collection, just like the dawns and dusks of our lives. There is searing honesty here, and small surprises of gratitude. In the end, Walker is like “an aunt who takes up / residence in your spare room / and starts knitting you sweaters.” You won’t want to take them off. Not one.

–Paul J. Willis, author of Orvieto

Sublime poet Isabelle Walker’s muse is nothing less than the totality of nature, for solace. Her love of what is concrete and beautiful gives her courage to tackle the darkness that has ridden with her through life. Being alone with trees leads her to courageously ask, “Aren’t we always breathing ourselves in and others out?” Whether she’s addressing dung beetles, blackbirds, or clouds, we are with her.

–Perie Longo, Author of Baggage Claim