Accumulated Lessons in Displacement: Poems - Hardcover

by Rachel E. Hicks (Author)

This collection takes the reader on a nomadic journey around the globe and into the more mysterious realms of the heart and spirit. These poems explore the joys to be found even in suffering, the resilient dignity at the heart of each human being, and the "thin places" where heaven and earth seem to meet. Based on her experiences as a "perpetual pilgrim," the poet remembers the scents of her hometown in the Himalayas, the spicy tastes of a farm meal in China, a walk with a refugee friend in Sarajevo, and a Muslim gardener wetting his lips from a hose on a hot day during Ramadan. In all this, she probes deeper questions about the telos of life as a created being and how to carry on in life and faith in the midst of unexplainable suffering. In entering into these poems, the reader is invited to draw sustaining strength from moments of beauty and divine grace.

Author Biography

Rachel E. Hicks' is a poet who also writes fiction and essays. Her work has appeared in Presence, Ekstasis, The Baltimore Review, Front Porch Republic, Fare Forward, and other journals. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she has won awards for her poetry and fiction. Rachel is the assistant editor at Mars Hill Audio. A global nomad who has lived in seven countries, she now lives in Baltimore, Maryland. This is her debut poetry collection.