Coming to Rest

"There is about [Byer's] lines something of the art of the woodcut, a starkness made the more powerful by modesty of presentation, a certain wintriness of aspect that cloaks a smoldering sensibility. This is a mode, we might think, that she does not choose but is chosen by." -Fred Chappell, Shenandoah Taking as her touchstone poet Seamus Heaney's verse "We come back emptied, / to nourish and resist / the words of coming to rest," Kathryn Stripling Byer in these poems engages the contradictions inherent in the act of coming home. She explores the step-by-step leaving and returning-and finding "home" transformed because of the journey. Seamless lines of poetry weave together experiences as a daughter and a mother, the challenges of aging, the innate dignity of domestic life, and learning to let go while holding fast to what matters all the while. Byer gathers the trivial things that make up our lives and shows their meaningful connections, our movement toward discovery. In Coming to Rest, she expands upon the great themes of the poetic tradition. Kathryn Stripling Byer has published four previous books of poetry, including Catching Light, winner of the Southeast Booksellers Association Award for Poetry. Among her other accolades are the Lamont Poetry Selection for Wildwood Flower, the Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Prize and the Brockman-Campbell Award for Black Shawl, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and appointment as Poet Laureate of North Carolina. She lives in Cullowhee, located in the western mountains of the state.