to the water signs who made me
to the loves & lovers who’ve held me
to every version of my self I am trying to love
this is how I feel the world
I was raised in a house of water is a gentle rainfall of words, each verse the soft whisper of an old friend, sharing their most patient observations, deepest longings, and wisest insights.
yes, I am here in this world
Read these poems. Inhale each line. Find hope in the space between.
hold space for an eternal moment
may we see one another
may we see ourselves
juniper gives me the courage to jump off the dock or in love or into my voice. Again. I was raised in a house of water wonders at what it means to be alive in this curious world – with and despite the darkness.
Zenaida Peterson, FEM Slam
These poems draw back the curtain of the known world. They enter the territories of walkabouts and the songlines of pain, grief, and rising. They ask the question: “What is it to witness a soul?” Brimming with confused and hard love, magic, rebirth, and a changing sense of what is true, you will walk with juniper in the slow strangle of losing her voice and the flood of coming back to herself. It is a wild place she takes us, and it is filled with love for the world she lives in.
Peg Edera, author of Love Is Deeper Than Distance
juniper finds openings to the cosmos in the humble and mundane. A rocking chair, a spider, a bell pepper – juniper sees them all as a spell for connection, healing, grieving, and a slow, rumbling transformation. juniper’s language sounds the rooted, pulsing low notes as well as the shimmering highs, inviting the reader to pass through the looking glass into the magical moment of just right here, just right now.
Angelica Brown
juniper’s words are a gift – so fresh from the heart you can still feel them faintly beating. juniper holds their own life in tender, outstretched hands, and invites us to join them in the sweet, aching journey.
Kateri Boucher, Geez Magazine
These poems shake with tears of pain and shimmer with tears of joy.
Carole Spencer, author of Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism
I was raised in a house of water is a gentle rainfall of words, each verse the soft whisper of an old friend, sharing their most patient observations, deepest longings, and wisest insights. “Yes, I am here in this world.” I read these poems, inhaling each line as I travel; truly a space in between. “Hold space for an eternal moment,” juniper writes, and I can’t help but sense a deep wisdom in their words, connecting disparate places, times, and stories. “May we see one another. May we see ourselves.” Wherever you find yourself on your journey, juniper invites you to go deeper, to listen, and to trust.
C. Wess Daniels, author of A Convergent Model of Renewal
Poems that touch more deeply, soothe more gently, and challenge more aggressively. juniper is one of the best in the Northwest because she is willing, not only to look within herself, but also to exist.
Julian Phillip Doumit, Little Comfort
juniper sings a song of experience – the sanctification and romance of life: “To shift is to be alive.” Their words, drenched in the devastation of being, help us hold on to hope.
Hye Sung, Friendly Fire Collective
juniper klatt has more than succeeded in writing their life as a poem in this stunning collection. The naturalness of the work is easy like a comfy sweater, and as juniper removes one layer after another, they make it safe to approach hard truths and beautiful stories. At the end, juniper seems to stand naked before us, and you can do nothing else but join them.
M Jahntz
Beautiful words shared from a beautiful heart always.
Amy Kopsa
juniper expresses the beauty and challenge of our times. She speaks of love, loss, and cookie-baking. But the poem that best captures the joy of being a human being, and the one I’d most like to hear her read out loud, begins, “I forgot how to pray with the structured words of my teachers and preachers and remembered how to dance with the colors and moans and songs of my ancestors.” juniper invites us to make magic. And to dance.
Stephen Deatherage
Aw well! She knows how to touch my soul to my toes. She’s got a knack for articulating that connection oh so lovely. It’s her gift for sure.
Lori Williams
juniper’s ability to gather together the pieces of the world – her curation of the sensory and emotional – makes me pause. To wonder and wonder.
Damon Motz-Storey
We sat across from each other at a table many years ago. juniper looked like any other beautiful young woman just coming into her own. The next day, her time came to stand at the microphone, and as she began her heart performance, the depth and strength – the wisdom and power that came as she transformed into her poem – stunned me. I will never forget. juniper is a gift, for she can speak deeply what so many of us feel. I am grateful for her presence in the world.
Lori Bosteder
