Twirling in a Beam of Light
a woman’s life in poetry
By Judy Kirkwood
RELEASE DATE: October 1, 2024
Fifty years in the making, the 45 poems of Twirling in a Beam of Light by Judy Kirkwood comprise a memoir of not only her life, but of any woman struggling with her own creative identity throughout the passages of girlhood, girlfriend, wife and mother, work career, and the transformation aging offers. The poems are about joy and loss, grief and celebration, seeing oneself in context as the world changes. The message is you can start over and make a home among strangers, you can open the door to a new beginning, and no matter how many dark nights pass, you can fly through the day on a dust mote twirling in a beam of light.
Genre/category: Poetry/Divorce/Parenting/Love and Loss
WHERE TO BUY:
Paperback ISBN: 9781950495573
ebook ISBN: 9781950495627
Direct from Lucid House Publishing click here.
Print and epub available worldwide to booksellers and libraries via Ingram. Request from your favorite independent bookseller or your library.
Barnes & Noble | ebook: Barnes & Noble
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Audiobook ISBN: To Come distributed by Blackstone Audio worldwide.
Meet The Author
REVIEWS
“Judy Kirkwood’s poetry memoir, Twirling in a Beam of Light, binds over 50 years of marriage, children, moves to new locations, divorce, new loves and new losses, with a sense of both the impermanence of certainty and the certainty of the divine. Her poems are threaded with nature and refreshing, idiosyncratic imagery but they are down to earth, accessible and remain ever hopeful. In the last section of the book, Florida Epilogue, she takes her dog Flip on a big move and literally flips over to a new life full of change, growth, love and tragedy. More will be revealed. This book is about how to live fearlessly with verve, grace, and humility.” —Gretchen Brant, Artist, Hopkins, Minnesota
“Judy Kirkwood’s Twirling in a Beam of Light is alive to the nuances of living, an appreciation of everyday nature, eloquent self-examination, autopsies of old relationships and celebrations of new ones. She understands the ebb and flow of joy and grief and the power of love and language to lift one up in times of difficulty. Read this book for its radiance, maturity, and compelling view of what it means to be alive.” —Maxine Chernoff, professor emeritus of the Creative Writing program
at San Francisco State University an NEA Fellow in poetry, author of
19 poetry collections and 5 works of fiction, Mill Valley, California
“Twirling in a Beam of Light is exactly what our tumultuous world needs right now. It’s a breath of fresh air, lovely as butterfly wings and yet deeply moving. Judy Kirkwood took this poet lover’s hand and led her on a journey into her life, sharing her most intimate moments. I couldn’t put it down.” —Mickey Goodman, Award-Winning Journalist and Ghostwriter, Marietta, Georgia
“By the time I was half way through the first poem I saw and felt, vividly, the author’s experience. I felt like they were my memories too—it felt so personal and familiar. I grew up in the Midwest and her descriptions took me back to my childhood immediately...but it added a sparkle that I was so grateful for. It was as if my own memories got a makeover after reading the poems.” —Amalia Maria Lee Brassfield, Women’s Health and Sovereignty Advocate,
El Pescadero, Baja California Sur, Mexico
“This exquisite collection really took my breath away. Kirkwood takes us on a journey through a life of unusual attention to the quotidian and profound moments of falling in love, becoming a parent, navigating marriage and divorce, starting over, and finding unexpected love that breaks our heart when death shows up too soon. How most of these poems fill less than a page yet succeed at conveying a lifetime of emotions is a testament to this poet’s wisdom, heart, and talent. Highly recommended. I’m an absolute fan.” —Marilyn Kriete, award-winning author of
Paradise Road and The Box Must Be Empty.