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Moondust: A Collection of Poems
In Moondust, author Kahlani B. Steele gathers a wide-ranging collection of poems that move from nature’s intimate theatre to childhood memory, grief, love, mental anguish, self-reflection, and finally the strange tenderness of people and places. The book begins with trees, birds, weather, moonlight, and water, then slowly turns inward, letting the natural world become a language for loneliness, desire, inheritance, and survival. I felt the collection’s emotional center most strongly in pieces like “Photograph of Pop,” “Trigger,” “The House of Me,” and “Mabel,” where ordinary images, a fishing line, a daisy, a cracked body-as-house, a lipstick mark on a child’s cheek, carry more ache than any grand declaration could.
Steele notices the world with a patient, almost devotional eye: the old tackle box, the mud on gumboots, the willy wagtail singing before rain, the park bench left alone after the stars depart. The poems are often at their best when they trust those concrete details to do the emotional work. There’s a warmth in the childhood poems that stayed with me, especially the quiet companionship with Pop, because the restraint makes the love feel authentic. I also liked how the book keeps returning to nature without making nature merely pretty. It consoles, yes, but it also bites, drenches, burns, withholds, and witnesses.
Steele’s writing is lush, and sometimes the collection occasionally leans into ornate metaphor. Still, I found that excess part of the book’s sincerity. These poems don’t pretend to be cool or detached. They ache openly. The ideas are familiar in the deepest human sense: grief, memory, heartbreak, aging, disconnection, the need to return to something elemental, but Steele gives them a distinctly tactile shape. Pain becomes frostbite, the body becomes a damaged house, memory becomes a locked room, and loneliness sits like a bench under thinning light.
I finished Moondust feeling that I’d been walking beside someone who pays close attention because attention itself is a form of care. It’s an earnest, textured, emotionally generous collection. I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy accessible contemporary poetry with a reflective heart, especially those drawn to nature writing, family memory, grief, and poems that speak plainly but still reach for beauty.
Pages: 110 | ASIN : B0GRHSKLK3
Foundation Under My Feet
Foundation Under My Feet is a heartfelt collection of poetry that explores the interwoven themes of faith, self-reflection, and nature’s quiet wisdom. Henschel invites readers on a deeply personal journey divided into two sections: “An Echo in the Soul” and “A Formed Foundation.” Through her words, she reflects on life’s challenges and joys while anchoring her thoughts in Christian belief. The poems ebb between internal struggle and external awe, often using vivid outdoor imagery to ground spiritual revelations in the tangible world. Each page reads like a whispered prayer, a quiet conversation with God, or a journal scribbled on a forest trail.
Reading this book felt like opening someone’s diary and finding parts of myself inside. Henschel’s poems aren’t polished in a showy way; they’re honest, even raw. She doesn’t hide from doubt or frustration, she walks straight through them with trembling hope. I appreciated the grounded simplicity of her language. She writes about everyday things: pulling weeds, sleepless nights, cloudy mirrors. Yet in those details, she uncovers depth. There were lines that caught me off guard and stayed with me long after. At times, a few pieces feel more like diary entries than fully-formed poems, but that unfiltered honesty is also part of the charm.
There’s comfort in knowing someone else has wrestled with questions of purpose, with waiting for a “yes,” with staying hopeful when things feel still. Her reverence for the natural world mirrors my own, and I found peace in the way she linked God’s presence to forest trails, rushing streams, and moonlit skies. Some readers might wish for more variety in structure or metaphor, but for me, the steady, soulful cadence felt just right, like hiking a path that rises slowly, with soft turns and sudden clearings.
I’d recommend Foundation Under My Feet to anyone looking for quiet encouragement, especially those navigating personal or spiritual growth. If you love nature, reflective writing, and poetry with a purpose, this book will speak to you. It’s best read slowly, maybe with a cup of tea, maybe while sitting on a porch or near a creek. It gently reminds you to breathe, to believe, and to keep walking.
Pages: 82 | ASIN: B0FD588XPH
Allowing Now
There is nothing like a moving piece of poetry. A poem that takes readers on a journey filled with imagery and tangible feelings is a comforting thing indeed. However, the most beautiful thing about poetry is that virtually every situation life throws our way can be addressed in a way that will impact readers, give them hope, and make them feel validated. Truly well-written poetry takes readers’ breath in the first stanza and keeps them captivated to the last line. Orna Ross’s Allowing Now: A Book of Mindfulness Poetry is a prime example of verse designed to captivate readers and make them feel heard.
This beautifully written collection of poetry provides readers with timely selections and gives readers tips for appreciating each poem. Ross is careful to explain that mindfulness poetry has quite a different purpose than most other examples of this genre. There is a specific way to approach reading and thinking when absorbing this work, and Ross breaks it down in no uncertain terms in the book’s introduction.
Readers who love haiku will be excited to see that Ross has included many in this style. Ross gives readers exquisite three-line gems that will stir not only vivid imagery but will inspire readers to try their hand at their own haiku. In addition, Ross’s work would make an excellent example for teachers to share with students in introducing this writing style.
“Here is Where: Salema Moods II” is my favorite of Ross’s longer works. As a melanoma survivor, I felt her words strike a chord. There is a certain level of sadness intertwined with hope in this particular selection. The rhythm and cadence are truly beautiful and lend themselves well to the poet’s goal of mindfulness.
Allowing Now: A Book of Mindfulness Poetry is heartfelt, moves readers, and spans a variety of topics. This thought-provoking collection will appeal to any poetry fan looking to delve into a complete body of work by a single poet. It is easy to absorb Ross’s entire book in a sitting, and it is perfect for a reread. In addition, Orna Ross gives readers something others sometimes lack–hope.
Pages: 134 | ASIN : B07W7FBLHB
