In this episode, Claire chats to poet Cristina M. R. Norcross about her collection The Poetry Apothecary published by Kelsay Books.
The gentle, light-filled poems of Cristina M. R. Norcross are just the medicine we need for these disturbing and distressing times. Reading The Poetry Apothecary is like taking that first step into a healing room, where all are welcome, where wonder and woundedness are equally honored and given shape. I love that she has divided the book into sections, each of which offer their own prescriptions for whatever might ail us. These poems help us see more deeply into the texture of our lives, and show us how we might learn to love the smaller things we often speed past: “every cell singing its praises . . . every moment folding itself into Now.” These poems create “a blueprint of possibility/imprinted on the surface” of each new page.
—James Crews, author of Unlocking the Heart and Kindness Will Save the World
Cristina M. R. Norcross lives in Wisconsin with her husband and two sons. She is the founding editor of the online poetry journal, Blue Heron Review, and the co-founder of Random Acts of Poetry and Art Day (celebrated annually on February 20th). Author of 10 poetry collections, a multiple Pushcart Prize nominee, and an Eric Hoffer Book Award nominee, her most recent book is The Poetry Apothecary (Kelsay Books, 2024). Cristina’s poems have been published widely in online and print journals including: Lothlorien Poetry Journal, The Poet, Muddy River Poetry Review, Verse-Virtual, The Ekphrastic Review, Poetry Hall, Visual Verse, Silver Birch Press, and Pirene’s Fountain, among others. She has also been published in numerous anthologies. Cristina has helped organize community art and poetry projects, has led creative writing workshops, and has hosted many open mic readings. She facilitates the online writing prompt group, Connection & Creativity in Challenging Times, on Facebook. Cristina was featured in the Poem-A-Day series for the Academy of American Poets in 2021. Most recently, you can find her work in the James Crews anthology, The Wonder of Small Things (Storey Publishing, 2023), alongside notable poets, Ada Limón, Joy Harjo, Ted Kooser, Jane Hirshfield, Kimberly Blaeser, Mark Nepo, Natalie Goldberg, Ross Gay, and others.
Some of the many poets who inspire Cristina are Andrea Gibson, Sarah Kay, Ada Limón and James Crews.
The Poetry Apothecary can be ordered directly from Kelsay Books or via Amazon in your part of the world.
You can find out more about Blue Heron Review over at www.blueheronreview.com and all of Cristina´s work on her website www.cristinanorcross.com
Share this post