Description
The Tears of Things
Poems by Catherine Hamrick
ISBN: 978-1-963695-11-3 paperback $19.95
ISBN: 978-1-963695-12-0 ebook $9.99
February 18, 2025
“Whatever life hands me—love, land, or loss—a way to acceptance means embracing earthly cycles, authentic connections to others, and the comforting puzzle of words,” says Catherine Hamrick. Processing depression and the loss of her parents, she explores the therapeutic value of nature and poetry in The Tears of Things. This collection charts her movement through changing relationships, landscapes, and gardens in the Midwest and Deep South. Seamus Heaney’s interpretation of The Aeneid’s famous line sunt lacrimae rerum—“there are tears at the heart of things”—underpins Hamrick’s sensibility. Observing seasonal flourishes and decay reminds us that love, joy, longing, sorrow, and gratitude arise from life’s imperfection and brevity.
Praise for The Tears of Things: Poems by Catherine Hamrick
These poems mine deeply for a richness in both language and imagery that cuts against the flatness of much contemporary poetry. With deep roots in nature poetry like Mary Oliver’s, as well as in memories of childhood and the excited and worried journeys of adult life, The Tears of Things renders the world in full—they are what we find everywhere we look.
—Jesse Graves, author of Merciful Days and Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine
In precise language and detailed imagery, Catherine Hamrick traces cycles of human illness and loss over four seasons. The persistence of memory and the insistence on perseverance—to understand, to make peace, to come out on the other side—is rewarded by a fifth season, a lagniappe of acceptance and joy.
—Jay Lamar, editor of Old Enough: Southern Women Artists and Writers on Creativity and Aging
The Tears of Things is a stunning journey into Catherine Hamrick’s relationship with nature. Her beautiful, sensual poems waste no words, evoking images that stir something deeper. Take your time experiencing these rich creations. You will want to taste them more than once.
—T.K. Thorne, author of The Magic City Stories Trilogy and Behind the Magic Curtain
A content strategist, copywriter, and editor, Catherine Hamrick previously worked at Southern Living, Cooking Light, Southern Accents, Victoria, Better Homes and Gardens, and Meredith Books. She also taught writing and communication arts at several colleges and universities. Her poetry has appeared in The Blue Mountain Review, Appalachian Places, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, storySouth, The Citron Review, and elsewhere. Find her online at catherinehamrick.com.
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