Description
Book SynopsisSky Songs is a collection of essays that takes inspiration from the ancient seabed in which Jennifer Sinor lives, an elemental landscape that reminds her that our lives are shaped by all that has passed through. Beginning with the conception of her first son, which coincided with the tragic death of her uncle on an Alaskan river, and ending a decade later in the Himalayan home of the Dalai Lama, Sinor offers a lyric exploration of language, love, and the promise inherent in the stories we tell: to remember.
In these essays, Sinor takes us through the mountains, deserts, and rivers of the West and along with her on her travels to India. Whether rooted in the dailiness of raising children or practicing yoga, Sinor searches for the places where grace resides. The essays often weave several narrative threads together in the search for relationship and connection. A mother, writer, teacher, and yoga instructor, Sinor ultimately tackles the most difficult question: how to
Trade Review"Sinor’s skills in interweaving different stories within the essays and finding the hidden connections between them are evident throughout. Together, they work to create a tapestry that is both searching and insightful. A lyrically profound collection."—
Kirkus Reviews"The meditations in
Sky Songs are narratively as well as meditatively driven, a combination that gives her book particular power."—Gaynell Gavin,
Western American Literature"That our world is broken—sundered by pandemic, climate crisis, race and class oppression, chasms of political discord—seems beyond dispute. What is equally clear is that we have no choice but to live in, and try to love, that world. In that light, although Jennifer Sinor's new collection of personal essays was written over a span of fifteen years, it has arrived just in time."—Benjamin T. Miller, C
olorado Review"Readers familiar with the strategies employed in modern literary writing will recognize qualities here that characterize our time. Her writing displays technical skill of the highest order: lucid, stylish, and at the same time, accessible."—Geoff Wichert,
Utah’s Art Magazine“I moved into these essays, folded myself between Sinor’s patient, pointed, perfect pages, and was fully embraced by Sinor’s attention, her expansiveness, and her enveloping words.”—Nicole Walker, author of
Sustainability: A Love Story“The timing couldn’t be better for Jennifer Sinor’s
Sky Songs. In this era of dissent and polarization, her essays take us right to the edge of what is most beautifully, troublingly, and excitingly human. The fragility of the body, the perseverance of the soul: we’re willing to dive deep into these essays about love, fear, family, and the healing power of solitude because we’re in Sinor’s steady hands. I’m grateful for her fierce honesty and her wise insights.”—Debra Gwartney, author of
I Am a Stranger Here MyselfTable of ContentsThe Ground Below Headwaters
Where It Is Darkest
The Cemetery
Openings
Running through the Dark
Out in the West
Returned
The Little Bear
The Sky Within Bowl of Vastness
Taxi Sutra
The Wanting Creature
Lobster
Incantation
Sky Song
Coda Hurt People Hurt People
Acknowledgments
