From wandering the rivers and valleys of her upbringing, to veering off the beaten paths in Italy, for her fourth collection of poems, award-winning poet Jeanie Thompson carries the meditations of her heart across the span of a year. Returning to familiar subjects – love, motherhood, her elegiac Southern landscape, and the continuing search for a deeper connection “running with” her blood, Thompson’s poems bear lessons grounded in her favorite earth, rich with her most important people, and full of grace. Following the late James Wright’s counsel that writing is like the seasons, and “the seasons bear us,” Thompson refocuses her lens on the longings of the human heart. Masterfully crafted, poem after poem searches out the reader, each moment rich in its own season, bearing the good fruits of honesty and grace from a brilliant poet and a life well lived. — River City Publishing