Until Now: New Poems

Until Now: New Poems is the third book of poetry by musician/author Carrie Newcomer. The soulful wisdom of musician and author Carrie Newcomer, dubbed a “prairie mystic” by the Boston Globe, offers a balm for this anxious and exhausted age of pandemic and political upheaval. Her new book of poems, Until Now: New Poem explores the process of unraveling and reweaving the threads of our lives, and the possibility of transformation after crisis. “We have all lived through a time of great unraveling,” Newcomer says. “Yet, with great disruption comes a possibility for change. We can’t just be healed; we must be transformed.” In this book Newcomer tells the universal human story of loss, resiliency, spiritual connection, and hope with the grace, compassion, and humor that characterizes her work, often turning to the natural world as a source for making sense in challenging times.
Quotes about "Until Now: New Poems"
Carrie Newcomer's beautiful new album and book Until Now stir the soul with the simple truth: We belong to one another. Her songs and poems are subtle and sweet melodies, exploring powerful themes of grief and struggle, wonder and transformation. Listen to her song Like Molly Brown to remember the women who show us how to "rest and pull" in the long labor for justice.
-- Valarie Kaur, author of See No Stranger: A Memoir & Manifesto of Revolutionary Love
In her intimate book of poems, Until Now, Carrie Newcomer tenderly explores the personal until it reveals the universal, until as she says “the narrative becomes less mine and more ours.” This is what we want from all poetry and song, to find a way to live in our common heart. Carrie has been doing this for years, bringing us to the heart of what matters where we can drink and come alive together.
—Mark Nepo, author of The Book of Awakening and The Way Under the Way
Carrie Newcomer puts the heart back together. Her calming words and music open the day to much greater spaciousness, reviving you wherever you are. She's a shining wonder in every single gracious way.
—Naomi Shihab Nye, Young People's Poet Laureate
Listen to Carrie Newcomer sing, and you hear poetry. Read her poetry, and you hear music. The poems in this beautiful new collection are as alive with music as her albums—and, as always, her words resonate deeply with mind and heart. There’s sublime art in these pages, the kind that is intimately joined to everyday life. She writes about about living with uncertainty and shopping for groceries, the lessons that come with gardening and what cable news overlooks, a second-grade teacher’s kindness and the message of migrating geese, a woofing dog and the struggles of being a parent. Time after time, I’ve known Carrie to experience ordinary things, and a few days later, the world has a new and illuminating poem or song. Full disclosure: for fifteen years, Carrie has been my colleague and dear friend, so I’m not an impartial observer. But knowing her well gives me license to say that there is no gap between her art and her life: she lives what she writes and sings about. When I read or listen to Carrie’s work, I often find myself saying, “If she can live that way, why not me?” I think you’ll find the same kind of inspiration in these small masterpieces that always open up into the largeness of life.
—Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach and On the Brink of Everything