Warble encompasses the poetry of connection to the life force, weaving and unraveling immersions into grief and birth, presence and yearning, mother love and father loss, blossom and flight. These poems are compelling, brave, intimate, and most of all, unafraid of telling the truth. I found that once I started reading them, I couldn't stop, and I was called back to re-read many stunning dives into the tender and fierce edges of life, such as the complex compassion in "Addling," the daring energy in "Open Water," and the breathless love of "You Ask Me to Tell You the Story." The title itself-Warble-speaks to that in-between state (as well as a bird) of being alive, trilling through each poem.

I picked this collection because of how deeply the poet wrote from what Edward Hirsch calls "the poetry of affection," the poetry that connect us to our innate and vulnerable humanness. This quality is so vital when it comes to working with the fragments of brokenness, despair, and horror around us to craft a life, sustain a community, and behold the living earth with wonder and courage.

-Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, 2024 Birdy Poetry Prize Judge, author of How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems