Tumbling Lessons by Michele Riedel

Michele Riedel has a way of filtering her observations and words through a cinematic lens that beautifully moves readers in, between, and among the sights, sounds, and scents of the messy and the marvelous; the euphoria of ascent and the tumult of descent; the comfort of connection and the angst of disconnection; of pivotal and everyday moments. These poems question the saltiness of life while also hope for the sweetness of an encore riding the ebb and flow of the tides. It’s clear that the poet is in the director’s chair. Sit back and enjoy page after page of her skillfully crafted poems.

In Tumbling Lessons, Michele Riedel‘s first poetry collection, we are swept up in a journey of family and faith, lofted on soft breezes of memory, grief, and hope. The ocean is never far away, its salt air a sky that heals all wounds. Brush a thin film over the slit on your papered skin— feel the throbbing start to numb, we are told, encouraged to find the faces of lost loved ones in our selfies, to clean out the bad juju of our junk drawers, and—wings or no wings—to tuck and roll on the way back down.

–Joanna Lee, author of Dissections; founder, River City Poets