Books

Water, great giver and taker, help me to remember
How to cradle wonder and still bear witness to horror and grief
                           How to let protest and beauty share the same beats of the heart                               
— Ingrid Wendt, from the poem “Prayer,”
  in Keeping It All Afloat

Ingrid Wendt’s poems vibrate with a pulse for our endurance: a sensory poet’s innate negative capability. Wendt shines her language on classic verities of truth and beauty while still bearing witness to horror and grief. Sometimes the poet is at “the wet, level edge of the world.” With understated playfulness, she takes us into the Yucatán jungle’s pyrotechnics of berries and leaves. Starburst recognitions! Her precision and observation reveal hidden miracles.”

~ Anne Waldman, a
uthor of Mesopotopia

 

                                                            

With tenderness and awe, Wendt’s poems recreate the splendor of a tropical jungle on the Yucatán coast. Wendt captures the cacophony (and mating!) of birds, the chirping of nearly transparent lizards, and the dazzling fish in undersea hush. She brings a moral reverence, with poem after poem presenting the complex balance of human interaction with the natural world. This is a profound and memorable work!”

~ Barbara Ras, author of The Blues of Heaven

“These poems, full of feeling, reward the reader with their musicality and wit. … The first and last poems are capstones of a rich collection. — Maxine Kumin

“There is such a bounty of startling grace and wisdom in Ingrid Wendt’s new book, that the reader can only be stunned by, and grateful for, this abundance.” –Maurya Simon

“These poems, shaped by tender and exacting labor, have the heft of hewn stone and the lift of blown glass.”

-Marilyn Krysl

“This is wonderful poetry–moving and unforgettable.

-Janet McCann

“Ingrid Wendt has a powerful, womanly feel for the intertwinings of love, pleasure, grief.”

-Alicia Ostriker

Selected by William Stafford for the New Poets of America Series, BOA Editions

Now in its 6th printing, this teaching guide for grades K-college has been adopted by teachers and school districts nationwide and abroad.

“… confirms Oregon’s place as a powerful outpost in Northwest literature.”

-Paul Pintarich, The Oregonian

“An important contribution to the resurrection of the lost history of women in the arts.”

-Publishers Weekly

Nature photographs and written content © Ingrid Wendt, unless otherwise cited.