Without the Cliff by Caitlin Coey

Coey’s Without the Cliff uses poetry to unfold childhood traumas others insist didn’t happen. Sensory images become a necessary grounding for difficult memories no one wants remembered. What is the fall without the cliff? Who is the savior without the fall? Coey reflects on these questions with vulnerability and honesty, invoking the innocence of fairy tales, heroines, and first kisses. She walks a complex terrain that at each turn asks her to choose what should be told and what should not.

–Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge

In her debut poetry collection, Without the Cliff, Caitlin Coey’s voice shines with strength and a succinct clarity that makes each poem crisp and the entire collection spark. In this robust lyrical memoir, Coey’s poems investigate ways of sharing and reshaping deeply complex and precious stories as a pathway to tenderness, truth, and even love. Readers of all ages, bring your wounded inner-child to this collection, and let Coey’s poems bolster you. This is truly a collection needed for our time, as even when the world is full of darkest nights, her poems bring us back to a place of beauty, healing, and joy.

–-Jeri Frederickson, Author of You Are Not Lost and Editor of Awakened Voices