Birth in Storm

Leah Sewell uses the language of the plains, and of the body, to open a gulf in us—a gulf of memory, of disaster—whatever is precarious, all around us. These are storm poems in the best possible way, full of threat, but also centers of unsettling calm; that which we love, but can no longer reach. Someone leaves town forever; a child stubbornly grows up, and away; the weather turns, maybe for the worst, and we must ride it out.

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Praise for Birth in Storm

Birth in Storm is a masterfully linked collection of poems that liken the unpredictability of natural disasters to the uncertainty of natural and inevitable human experiences. Sewell’s stories are often rich in specific detail, all while retaining an accessibility that grounds a perhaps unfamiliar setting with stories readers will feel as though they know — or have experienced themselves.

—Samantha Duncan

Undoubtedly, the poems of Birth in Storm are powerful. Through a masterful control of image, bred by an imagination that runs wild, Sewell creates a world in which we can all slow down for a moment, consider not only the wonder of motherhood or the power of growing into a woman, but the urgent terror of it all. Birth in Storm is a collection in which the author asks us all to come inside the tornado with her, to enter the swirl of creation. Sewell asks us to consider the pull of the wind, the electric atmosphere, feel the braids and tendons that pull us along. Most importantly, she asks us to consider the power of creation within ourselves.

—Raylyn Clacher

Birth in Storm leaves no one unscathed, but instead, stronger for having made it through. Sure, there’s broken glass everywhere and there’s a lot of work to be done, but somehow, the reader finds themselves looking forward to putting everything back together–because Sewell shows us that for poems born in storm, that which yields is not weak.”

—Allie Marini Batts, author of You Might Curse Before You Bless

About the Author

Leah Sewell is an assistant editor at Coconut Poetry Press (Atlanta, GA), the art director of XYZ Magazine (Topeka, KS), founder and facilitator of the Topeka Writers Workshop and a mother to two youngsters. Her poetry has appeared in [PANK] Magazine, Rufous City Review, Weave Magazine, Flint Hills Review, Midwestern Gothic, Mochila, and other journals, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2012. She is a graduate of Washburn University in English with a minor in Women’s Studies and is an MFA candidate at the University of Nebraska.

Birth in Storm

Praise for Birth in Storm

About the Author

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