"Horse Prayers" Cover Reveal

Horse Prayers   Poems from the Prairie

Hooray, it’s the cover of my next book. I know, it’s a totally different look than my other books, and for good reason. This is a 106-page book of poetry and full-color photography. A softcover mini-coffee table book.

I wasn’t sure at first. I admit poetry has been a challenge. And by that I mean, I don’t like a lot of it. That alone was reason enough to commit to writing it. But publish a volume of poetry? Why?

It feels like life picks me up off the ground and shakes me by the shoulders every time I see a bird in the sky. I’m not sure how it got this loud; even my words can’t look away.

But I’m not the first woman on a farm gobsmacked by this simple life with its plain beauty. Living on the land is the ordinary experience of spinning through seasons and lives while inhaling the wind of the Infinite.

Sharing our lives with animals adds another rich layer of dimension.

I’m clearly not over my girlish horse phase. None of us are, so I write love poems to horses, putting words to this equine passion that powers a central part of our lives. What is it that pulls us so fiercely to horses?

New readers, I started this blog to have a place to talk about books and writing, separately from the place I continue to write the horse stuff at annablakeblog.com. Things have stayed in neat piles exactly like they do in my underwear drawer. 

THIS WEEK: The poetry book is in its print proofing process. I’ll have the first copy of it in my hands next week. The realities of the publishing world tried to smack me around a bit, but gray mares like me are not to be trifled with. The final result is even better than I imagined. I’m planning a release day in June or July, with a pre-sale available from Amazon soon and signed copies on this website. 

And I feel a video book trailer coming on…

My love affair with poems doesn’t threaten my long-term relationship with writing non-fiction. It’s more like an inky ménage à trois. So, I’ll finish volume two of Relaxed & Forward and publish that new book by the end of this year. 

Today, I’m at a farm outside Palmer, Alaska, for a horse clinic. The natural beauty is desolate and wild and immense. There’s a shade of live-green on the trees unlike any I’ve seen before. I’m staying with Kaylene Johnson, NYTimes bestselling author of Canyons and Ice, a book about Dick Griffith’s experiences wilderness trekking.