Waking Life

Cynthia Anderson’s poetry dissolves arbitrary distinctions between non-human and human, creature and rock, inner and outer, past and present. Records of the timeless rhythm of being, these poems are a beautiful portrait of the desert she loves. - Catherine Svehla, Ph.D., Mythologist/Founder of Mythic Mojo and Myth in the Mojave

In parts creation story, spell, sojourn, camera angle, dream, this is the poet’s field guide to the high desert. Through her lit and compassionate lens, readers may listen to the old language and know this star-pointed place “where a spider web holds the earth together.” - Jennifer K. Sweeney, author of Little Spells and How to Live on Bread and Music

There is a wonderful rhythm to Anderson’s poems, like the drumming of a loom. The poet-weaver pulls strands of old stories and expertly draws in her own yarn, placing herself inside the myth. Her love for the earth is recorded on every page. - Enid Osborn, author of When The Big Wind Comes; Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, CA 2017-2019

Poet Cynthia Anderson and photographer Bill Dahl continue their journey, their vision, entwined with the desert, their home. The observation and telling of this place through word and image puts this land in our hearts as it is in theirs. - Phil Taggart, author of Rick Sings; Poet Laureate of Ventura County, CA, 2016-2018