Away by Jenna Wysong Filbrun

Jenna Wysong Filbrun’s poetry rings with soulful incentive in a world facing spiritual crisis. ‘Away’ is a collection of work steeped in nature, springing from nature and all of its integrative power – a redemptive and healing read.

–Vanessa Able, founder and editor-in-chief of The Dewdrop

In Jenna Wysong Filbrun’s engaging, beautiful collection, Away, she navigates life and loss through the pandemic with grace, sensitivity, and an extraordinary gift for poetic healing.  When describing the first crocuses, her opening poem captures spring’s insistent reminder of hope, “with the change in seasons, gathered in upside down silk gowns of beaming violet.”  Filbrun reminds us that despite suffering, we have all been steadily continuing our days, “candles still burning.”  Nature is a guiding presence and teacher in this collection.  When spotting deer in “Looking,” Filbrun shares a breathtaking moment when, “A kind of music plays, like a river running,” and we hear the music with her.  Filbrun shines a light on our need for connection and the necessity of protecting the most vulnerable.  Every poem offers up small gems of wisdom and comfort, “I’m telling you, love / does exist. / I, too, am breaking toward it.”

–Cristina M. R. Norcross, editor of Blue Heron Review; author of The Sound of a Collective Pulse and other titles

I recently had the privilege of participating with Jenna Wysong Filbrun, a fellow seeker, in a spirituality course.  Jenna contributed a number of poems to our cohort that highlighted her desire for a deeper knowing and loving relationship with God.  Her poetry embodied the sense of her loss of human community during the pandemic and was admired by our class for the solace and reverence Jenna found in nature as her new community.   Like an exhilarating nature hike, Jenna’s poetry collection, “Away” introduces its readers to the language and life rhythms of the Wind and the Trees, their bird and animal companions, and the stinging chill of winter’s cold.   Jenna shares some of the lessons of her new companions, the Sycamore, the Cottonwood, and the Maple that embody the life wisdom of how to part with things, how to be still, how to bend and weather, how to bloom and grow, and ultimately how to die.  Enjoy the special journey offered by “Away.”

–Wally Goulet, co-author of Wired Differently, a book on servant leadership and business culture; lawyer, teacher, and consultant