Heart is a Muscle: Modern Poems About Love, Pain, Healing, and Joy

The loss of a beloved pet. Unforeseen endings. Nature as a mirror, helping us to see the world and ourselves. Physical changes. The sensual, soothing seduction of food. New starts. The joy and heartbreak of friends, children, lovers… The Heart is a Muscle is a special collection of contemporary poetry that recounts, reflects, and ruminates on great beauty and joy—and grief and struggle. The experiences of love, pain, healing, and joy are not linear. They do not begin and end in isolation from one another. Rather, they eddy and swirl like currents, sometimes buoying us up, other times sucking us under, as we travel the river of life.Whether you're struggling with grief or loss or are delightedly overwhelmed by the sheer beauty, preciousness, and possibility of life—or, perhaps, are bouncing between all those emotions day to day—we hope these poems meet you where you're at and nourish you on your journey. Who am I     on this hillstaring back overthe landscape of my lifewalking stick in hand…