Description
Feathered, scaly, bristled, dusty and soft, Wendy Videlock becomes the place she writes about. She is also the cat inside the fox, the lightness of the moth, the heart of the horse. Come fly and trot and sniff and dig around with her in “Desert Kin.”— no time with these beautiful words will be wasted. –Craig Childs, author of The Wild Dark, recipient
of the John Burroughs Medal
With wit, humility, and deep attention, Desert Kin reveals a world alive with intelligence and surprise. Videlock is a poet of attentiveness, reminding us that the land is not empty space but vast community, and that paying attention may be the truest form of belonging. –CMarie Fuhrman, author of Salmon Weather and co-editor of Cascadia Field Guide
Wendy Videlock’s rhythm and rhymes are fresh as a desert dawn. She writes from the edge of the Colorado Plateau, where the animals speak to her, “not with words, but with presence” and we feel them on every page as they embody fear, grief, recovery, vulnerability, and joy. These poems and essays remind us that a kinship with the land help us become more wholly alive. The Southwest courses through this book—and in Videlock’s veins—like a river in a canyon, like blood. –Brian Palmer, author of Living in the Now and Then
Part poet, part prophet, Videlock gifts us with these ageless, yet contemporary parables. Videlock’s compelling prose takes us straight to the desert sky, and the music of the verse-parables render the images unforgettable. After reading Desert Kin “I find myself / a little less blurred, / a little more awake / a little more deeply stirred” to this remarkable world that surrounds us all. –Susan Spear, author of On Earth and co-author of Learning the Secrets of English Verse
