Difficult Gifts: Poems

In language that pays close attention to both sound and sentiment, Cathy Warner draws from daily life, the pandemic, childhood, and creativity as she lays bare not only the difficulties and distractions of being human, but her belief in poetry, beauty, and a higher power to sustain us. The result is a spirited and even humorous collection that offers hope amid hardship. In Warner's words, our task is "nothing more than practicing again and again the art of embracing life's difficult gifts."

This is a remarkable collection by a poet who asks us all to consider what this journey we call "life" means, and more importantly, how to show up every day with thanks for all that is fleeting and fragile.

-Carey Taylor, author of The Lure of Impermanence



From her exquisitely detailed personifications of the natural world to the laying bare of her vulnerabilities (which are also ours), to the way in which she transcends the daily by transforming it into something holy, Warner will make you laugh, cry, think, and wax nostalgic-sometimes all at the same time.

-Sue Magrath, author of The Salvation of Poetry: A Novel