Mother of Other Kingdoms

Mother of Other Kingdoms is a tender, inward-exploration of motherhood, amidst the chaos and destruction of human life on earth. These lyric poems center on mothering the more-than-human world-plants, flowers, animals, birds, insects-all with their elaborate taxonomies and delicate identities. As a Master Naturalist, Kai Coggin brings us a different perspective, seeing through a magnified lens focused on the thriving invisible worlds that others overlook. She takes a heart-forward turn deeper into her quiet forest home, invites the reader in, and treads soft footprints in poems, intersecting stories of the vibrant natural world, motherhood, love, loss, ancestry, grief, wonder, joy, and impermanence. Where her recent books have been overtly political, Mother of Other Kingdoms slows us down, reminds us to breathe, amplifies the voices of caterpillars and honeybees. The world is breaking before our eyes, yes, but there are still birds, still flowers, still trees . . . for now. Coggin does not shy away from the fires, she shows us the smallest miracles before they burn, takes your hand and says "look closer." These poems are intimate, close to the skin, infinite and infinitesimal-this collection mother's worlds we so desperately need to hold.