Book Launch & Signing - An Armsfull of Birds, May 15

Some of you reading this have heard me say (perhaps more than once), “If your family & friends don’t go to your readings, who will?” The truth of that was evident by the audience of this reading by author Cara Benson of An Armsfull of Birds: A Personal Field Guide to Love, Loss, and Commitment (Health Communications, Inc., 2026) at the venerable Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza — standing room only. I first encountered Cara as a performance poet in 2004 & saw her many times since at venues locally & regionally. She has given many writing workshops in the area & many of the folks at this event that I talked to had met her at workshops or at peer writing groups.

This day was the official publication date of An Armsful of Birds & the bookstore had not yet received a shipment, nor had I received my pre-ordered copy; Cara had a stack of her author’s copies which some in the audience had. I would have to wait.

She was joined by her friend, author Amy Halloran, as a moderator/interviewer. Care began with reading from Chapter 1, “American Goldfinches (Jon and I meet);” each chapter is titled with the name of a bird as if it were a guide for birders,. She said that the book started as an essay, from thoughts she had walking in the woods after Jon’s death. 

When asked “how was the process of writing the book different from the process of healing?” she replied that the writing brought him to life again. The importance to her of walking in the woods for her writing process was emphasized again in her reading of Chapter 21, “Winter Wren (The dream that is not a dream)” which she characterized as “a long prose poem.”

I have since received my copy of An Armsful of Birds & hope that you seek it out. It is the work of a poet, descriptive, lyrical & introspective. As Cara said at the reading, “We need to take care of each other.”