The River of Perpetual Departure

"Exploration into vastness and minute detail...How stars are going about their billion-miles-away business..." Connie Johnstone examines and celebrates with a naturalist's passion and photographer's eye throughout this wonderful, wide-ranging collection. Johnstone's work as a Hospice chaplain infuses the poems with a compassionate intimacy. Yes, we are all afloat in the river of perpetual departure, but these poems hold hands with us; they remind us we are, no matter what, always in it together.

-Susan Kelly-DeWitt, author, Frangible Operas

In The River of Perpetual Departure, former Hospice chaplain Connie Johnstone gives us twenty-five powerful poems. Lyrical, courageous, original, finely-crafted, and often hauntingly beautiful, they explore the fragility of life and the impenetrable mystery of death, that "unholy holy," with humility, compassion, and a willingness to look almost-unbearable grief straight in the face. Johnstone is such an accomplished poet, that it is hard to believe The River of Perpetual Departure is her first book of poems.

-Mary Mackey, author, The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams

She's written novels, edited anthologies, lived a full life in words. Now with this collection, The River of Perpetual Departure, Connie Johnstone turns her focus to poetry, and she's come home. From descriptions of New Mexico sandstorms to Boston soir嶪s, the voice is her own. Whether dreaming a conversation with Leonard Cohen or calmly chatting with a honeybee in her hand, the poet's eye is steady, the line holds true. Funny, detailed, earthy, and kind.

-Bob Stanley, author, Language Barrier