The Wilderness That Bears Your Name

What a beautiful book of poetry! I love how James divided the poems into seasons and I love how they are resonating with the seasons of my life. I pair this book with my morning tea; it provides a moment of mindfulness and the words linger with me throughout the day.“I’m in one right now— one of those days that will never come again.” (excerpt from the book and poem, “The Simplest of All Regrets.”)You will not regret purchasing this book-as a gift to yourself or loved one or any poetry lover. It’s a welcome and wise friend in every season of life.

James is a wonderful fellow traveler through the wilderness of life. Drawing from his own experiences, and love for nature, he creates beautiful poetry, intertwining life with the natural world’s rhythms. I feel invited to hold on to hope and to notice and consider the amazing world outside my window with renewed wonder. No matter what season I find myself in, especially the Mud Season, James’ poetry will be a welcome companion.

This book is a treasure trove of deeply insightful, soulful poems for all seasons of life. Each is a brilliant, unique reflection of our connection with nature, our resilience, and our capacity to grow, to hope, and to cherish both the beauty and ache of personal transformation. James’s poetry is a rare gift and can help any person feel seen and held in their own journey.

This poetry stands out for so many reasons. I love the word pictures the poet paints. Even more, I enjoy reading each poem again and again and savoring the layers of truth about life and our own journeys. This book is a treasure that I highly recommend

I have read James' poetry for years as he released each poem. This book is a collection of some of his best work. I cannot say enough good about this book. I bought it the day it came out. I plan to buy it as a gift for each of my clients because James's poetry touches such a deep root of humanity in all of us. I find myself thinking (or feeling) his poems days after I read them.

"The Wilderness That Bears Your Name" is a fantastic read for poetry lovers and common readers alike. The author does a wonderful job utilizing his verse to convey the emotional ebb and flow of the human condition. He successfully utilizes the intrinsic relationship between Earth's seasons as an allegory for the seasons of life, making the lines of poetry both accessable and relatable to the reader.

James Pearson's poetry has been a rich comfort in many seasons of my life, and I'm so glad to see this collection orienting us around these important seasons of the soul. His words are pulled from everyday human experience but also so beautifully rooted in the natural world. I love this collection and look forward to coming back to it over and over. (And I will probably get a tattoo of "You Take It With You" at some point soon!)

I’m not usually a poetry girlie, but James has this way of capturing exactly what I need to hear at any moment in time. I cannot get enough of the beautiful, mind-altering drug that is this collection.