Books
What we're good atMending Prayer Rugs
I have tried in these poems to give voice to women’s deep wisdom as we move through ordinary time – planting a garden, tending to flu bugs and ambiguous truths, turning to other women for strength – those we meet in life and those who speak to us through time.
“…an exceptional eye, a wide-ranging knowledge, a mastery of the musical line, and an ability to embed “scraps of scripture” and the lexicon of worship unobtrusively into her work result in a tapestry that is utterly gorgeous… I hope women everywhere read this book.”
– Marjorie Stelmach, Falter, Night Drawings, A History of Disappearance, Without Angels
“Beneath the clarity of her images there is something rich and alive in these poems, shimmering beneath the surface.”
– Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Unfolding Light
“Tenderness is stitched into each design. Hirsch is a poet who listens well and weaves with care. A beautiful book!”
– Linda Hoffman, The Artist and the Orchard: A Memoir
A Sabbath Life
One Woman’s Search for Wholeness
This is a story of awakening and change. My intention is to share with other women my efforts to achieve in my middle years a new wholeness that I did not know (or care to find) as a younger woman. Simply by listening to my inner soundings and to the many inspiring woman whom I have met over the past few years, I have learned what it means to genuinely honor the Self.
“She gracefully celebrates her discovery of such timeless pleasures as gardening and cooking and relishes the lessons she learns from women who have created holistic lives.”
– Booklist
“On this journey of the spirit and the senses, Hirsch . . . gained firm wisdom about ‘jubilee time,’ time set aside to look inward, to honor the sacred play of life, to believe.”
– O, The Oprah Magazine
A Home in The Heart of a City
A Woman’s Search for Community
The Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain–home to the author of this thoughtful meditation on the importance of community in today’s urban environment–possesses the characteristics demographers predict will dominate the American urban landscape by 2025. And it is in this incredibly diverse, wonderfully offbeat quarter that Kathleen Hirsch has found a place to belong.
“This book belongs in the library of anyone who yearns to understand what sustains a place and what scorches it.”
– Ellen Clegg, The Boston Globe
“Reminiscent of both Jane Jacob’s classic urban study, Death and Life of Great American Cities, and in its lovely evocation of place, Kathleen Norris’s The Cloister Walk.”
– Booklist, Starred Review
Mothers
Twenty Stories of Contemporary Motherhood
Mothers, twenty stories by writers who are mothers, evokes every stage of the journey, from pregnancy and birth on through the childhood years, adolescence, and adulthood. Together, the stories depict the complexities of mothering in America today as women actually experience it.
Whether you are a new mother, a seasoned mother, or a grandmother many times over, you will find yourself in this book.
“I can hardly count the ways that being a mother has broadened my writing, deepened my connection to all other women, and galvanized my commitment to the Earth and its fate. As difficult as it is, sometimes, to find a way to be a writer while taking care of children, I think it would be harder to be a writer who has never known what it means to care for a child.”
– Barbara Kingsolver
Songs From The Alley
Hirsch writes a startling account of life on the streets. Wendy and Amanda both came from the suburbs, both had dreams of lasting love and security. But before age 30, both women were homeless.
“For anyone who has ever looked at a homeless woman and wondered, How did she end up here?…An extraordinary book and as compelling as any work of fiction.”
– Rosalynn Carter
“A passionate plea for Americans to take a good look at what we have been and what we are.”
– Gloria Naylor
“…Passionate gut-level reporting…”
– Mary Gaitskill
“…a riveting narrative that reads like lyrical fiction.”
– The Boston Globe
