Comets: Relationships That Wander

Annie Klier Newcomer's debut collection speaks to the world's propensity to awe us in concert with all we love and lose. In writing about family, whether close at hand or long-gone, she explores the ties that bind, the grief that travels with us, and the love that remains. Looking to the larger human family, she writes a poem about integration, "Some stories never end," and to the cosmos, considering the cycles of comets. This lyrical collection invites us to consider the paths we live, like comets arching across time.

-Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kansas Poet Laureate Emerita, author How Time Moves

Annie Newcomer's first poetry collection brims with insight and attention to the rich, often fraught details of childhood and the struggles of adult life. Nuanced, compassionate and alert, Newcomer's poems shine a loving light on an American family's history while casting their nets much wider than the few individuals they are ostensibly about. Whether recalling a disabled sister's short life, musing over crazily hoarding neighbors, or discovering a husband's secret love of poetry, Newcomer's gentle wisdom permeates what it means to be alive in uncertain times.

-Laura Chalar, Uruguayan poet & author of The Guardian Angel of Lawyers and Unlearning

Annie Newcomer writes with keen awareness of family bonds. In so doing she uncovers a web of potent memories wrapped up inside them. Not satisfied to stop at personal reflection, however, her poetic intention seeks to remind the reader that there are wrongs in this world and we each have social and political responsibilities to consider when weighing fairness and justice. This is the season for Annie's voice to be heard among poets.

-Bruce McClain, Poet, Writer, Illustrator, forthcoming art & poetry book, Elder Leaf