This compilation of original poetry and factual "mountain" short stories comes from the pen of a true Southern Appalachian wordsmith, and is ideal for collecting and/or gift-giving. Described as inspirational, motivational, comical, thought-provoking and nostalgic, the contents reflect on the happenings in the life of the author and those native to the mountains of Western North Carolina, but are intended to reach the hearts and memories of all readers.

Struggling to accept her impending blindness, the speaker in Julia B. Levine’s fifth collection of poetry, Ordinary Psalms, asks everyday life to help her learn how to see beyond appearances into fundamental truths. As she contemplates the loss of one friend to cancer and another to suicide, along with her own visual impairment, Levine holds the world “close as I needed / to see.” Imagistic, lyrical, and at times imploring divine intervention from a god she does not know or trust, these poems curse and praise the extraordinary place we live in and are in danger of losing. Lamenting that “this world is a mortal affliction / with wounds in the beautiful,” Ordinary Psalms provides a seductive and lyric rumination on radiance, loss, and grief.