The Language of the Birds: Poems

By Amy Nemecek

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

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paraclete Press
• Release date: Oct 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781640607880

Amy Nemecek

Amy Nemecek fell in love with words at an early age. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and is featured in numerous print and online journals and anthologies, including Presence, Relief Journal, Windhover, St. Katherine Review, and Whale Road Review. Amy works as a nonfiction editor for Baker Publishing Group. She lives in West Michigan with her husband, Sean, their adult son, Ben, and two cats. When she isn’t crafting words, she enjoys traveling to new places with her family and taking long walks in nature.

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