THE WAY BACK TO OURSELVES

Literary Journal

The Way Back to Ourselves Literary Journal Presents:

COMING FALL 2024…

M A S T H E A D:

Editors: Sarah Steele, Kimberly Kralovic, and Ashley Whittemore

Founder and Editor-in-Chief: Kimberly Phinney

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives might be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief.  I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

MAY YOU HEAR THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS SPEAK INTO YOUR SOUL.

Listen to the poets of the Spring Collection: Renaissance read their work with our NEW podcast, The Poetry Corner from The Way Back Podcast, hosted by Edward L. Holmes II and Deidre Braley.

A Brutal Love
poetry Kimberly Phinney poetry Kimberly Phinney

A Brutal Love

In “A Brutal Love,” poet Kimberly Phinney writes about her harrowing journey through severe illness and the spiritual epiphany she experienced in her garden that helped bring her back to life.

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This is My Happy Poem
poetry Kimberly Phinney poetry Kimberly Phinney

This is My Happy Poem

In a simple lyric poem, “This is My Happy Poem,” poet Kimberly Phinney recalls one of her first memories of pure joy after surviving critical illness.

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It starts today— in the small steps you take, the hands you hold, the prayers you say, the art you make, and the hard things you conquer… The way back isn’t as far as you think.

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