Singing Riptide
Before she could forgive herself, Cheryl Wilder needed to know she was worthy.
“Singing Riptide is an intense book of memory and regret, but also a marvelous triumph in the fact that her poetry itself creates a way for both poet and reader of this rewarding book to discover what Ross Gay would also call ‘unabashed joy,’ and yes, redemption.” —Richard Jackson
Wilder’s “shatteringly direct” approach, first seen in Anything That Happens—the collection that chronicles the root of Wilder’s shame and how she navigated the immediate aftermath—welcomes readers into her internal process from personal, all-consuming shame; through the intergenerational forgiveness that made self-forgiveness possible; to self-realization and belonging.
We’ll all sleep here tonight,
between adobe walls twelve inches thick
nothing can get you
but the journey that led you here.
from “Salt of the Earth”
“How we live through our hardships determines who we become. Cheryl Wilder’s Singing Riptide is a book for all who have fallen and all who have had the strength to get back up…This collection is a gift of recovery and forgiveness, a testament that despite the very worst, the very best will prevail.”
—Barbara Presnell, author of Otherwise, I’m Fine
“This collection reminds us that transformation requires both being witnessed and loved by others and, crucially, never abandoning ourselves as we learn to gently “strip shame’s tendrils,” no matter how long it takes.”
—Nicole Gulotta, author of Wild Words: Rituals, Routines, and Rhythms for Braving the Writer’s Path
“In Singing Riptide, Cheryl Wilder understands that the body holds trauma and memory, and that the shadow of shame can pop up anywhere–in a mirror, at the grocery store, or walking along the beach…These hard-wrought poems show us grace and self-awareness as the poet discovers acceptance of what has been, what endures, and what continually unfolds.”
—Debra Kaufman, author of Outwalking the Shadows
Susan E. Morris of the Independent Review says of Anything That Happens, “the collection leaves me on a low note, hoping for another volume yet to come where Wilder feels she’s earned the redemption she so desperately seeks.” Singing Riptide is that redemption.
Singing Riptide is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and Durham Arts Council, local grants administrator.
Anything That Happens
“Readers interested in literary, personal stories of transformation and change will find the beat of these poems in their hearts provides inspection not into just one life changed by a bad choice and its lasting consequences, but newfound connections to home, family, and a revised purpose in life.
It’s a potent collection that invites readers to walk in Cheryl’s shoes. And, it provides traction for assessing and moving beyond these poignant and powerful moments of quiet desperation.”
—Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review
Second Finalist in the 2022 Poetry Society of North American Book Award
Honorable Mention in the 2022 Brockman-Campbell Book Award
Other writing coming soon.
