Wild Heart by Karin Uphoff

In her new collection of poems, Wild Heart, Karin Uphoff extends an invitation to the reader to go with her into the unfolding world of nature. Perhaps it is this simple gesture that allows the poems to so easily act as portals for discovery of how it is still possible for all of us to access our shared humanity in the natural world. She easily invokes a sense of awe when she writes in Sesshin “…Each step an invitation to add our silent reverence”, or in This Day “…slipping beyond the banks of what tries to contain me…”. I found myself returning to Wild Heart over and over again to be part of the generative flow of life she so seamlessly evokes with these poems.

–Devreaux Baker, Poet Laureate of Mendocino County

In these sacred nature-inspired poems, Karin Uphoff gives herself to the wilds of the weather-worn coast of California and is met, in the spirit of Rainer Maria Rilke, by angels both resplendent and terrible. These poems comprise a travelog of the vulnerable spirit, caught and uncovered in “life’s upwelling.” Tune yourself to Uphoff’s “winged orchestras,” “moonlight moans,” and “the exhale of whales passing by,” and you will find yourself humbled and refreshed.

–Prartho Sereno, author of Starfall in the Temple & Poet Laureate Emerita of Marin County, CA

In her first chapbook, Wild Heart, Karin Uphoff offers us quiet, slow-moving moments resonating from an appreciation for the natural world. From the rivered hills to Durban’s pond, muddy trails to weaving through the woods, she asks us to partake in gratitude with her; of wild cherries, cardamom coffee, and birdsong. Yet while searching and reveling in the exploration of landscape, her poems also beckon a recognition of loss, vulnerability, and tenderness. This collection is timely, offering the certainty of poetry in an uncertain world.

–Georgina Marie Guardado, MFA, Lake County Poet Laureate Emerita 2020-2024, Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow 2021, Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference President