According to legend, the language of the birds was a mystical language God used to talk with Adam and Eve when he walked with them in the garden of Eden. Amy Nemecek listens for this divine dialect as she communes with God on her walks along country roads and creek banks, through forests and hayfields. She observes the world around her with expectation, knowing that God still speaks to us as he is at work making all things new. If we have ears to hear, we can catch snippets of his grace in the watercolor silhouette of a bird, the thrum of a tractor engine, the tang of a grapefruit, the curvature of an ampersand. Amy doesn’t want to miss any of it, so she remains attentive to the smooth grit of beach sand, the tendrils of a nebula, and the steady gaze of a fossil. She delights in the details, and you will too.

In this collection of lyric and narrative poems, you are invited to walk with her as she reflects on larger themes of beauty, loss, motherhood, family, and vocation. She contemplates the sacredness of ordinary moments that we usually don’t recognize except in hindsight. Twining through every line is an aching hopefulness that ties together her love of words, her devotion to scripture, and her deep gratitude for each of life’s joys and griefs.

“Rub dust on your palms, pluck the ripened sunshine, and taste this poetic grace.” —Dwight Baker, president and CEO of Baker Publishing Group