Books.
“Bailey writes eloquently and with a quiet, transforming wisdom” -Diane Wakoski
NEW! Coming soon! This collection of poems emerged during a trip to Iceland with my son in January 2020. They explore place, the more-than-human world, the essential connectedness of being as a mother, and the creativity of existence.
The Conjugation of Winter
The Practice of Being is an awareness practice manual and emerged from my journey of awareness that began when I was a small girl exploring grassy fields, woods, and creeks around Birmingham, Alabama. I felt a connection so deep as to be union, and these experiences marked my life. In the decades to come, I explored and explore union, as a poet and writer, a teacher, and an independent scholar. Through practice and study, I came to understand that learning to open our awareness is the key to living in the connectedness of all of existence. Through awareness, we experience life more deeply. We manifest more fully. Our lives are richer. This little book shows the way through simple and engaging practice.
The Practice of Becoming
The Daring Egg is a children’s book (3 Yrs & Up) that I wrote for my son, that explores the sacred journey of being fully embodied as one’s self, even when one may wish to be like others. The rich illustrations by artist Lyn Buchanan highlight the story of a girl who walks in the woods and takes herbs to place in her basket, along with the egg that she takes from the best. As the story unfolds, she learns that she is part of a vast and beautiful world, not separate and that her connectedness is a tremendous gift. She learns to listen deeply, and in the process, she discovers gratitude.
An Unexpected Journey
Based on original research in the UK funded by The Ireland Award at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, this is a collection of twenty-seven persona poems in the voice of Anne Wyngfield, a fictional yet historically plausible 14th-century English anchorite. In the anchoritic movement of women religious in northern Europe in the 13th-15th centuries, women emerge in powerful community leadership positions as scholars, thinkers, and visionaries. The anchorites were able to lead autonomous lives to a degree almost unknown until much later in western history. The book was published in the UK by The Friends of Julian Publishing.
A Woman’s Freedom
This chapbook is a single poem in three parts that explores the poet’s relationship with her mother, rooted in art. What is the nature of memory as her mother refuses to engage with a past that includes her own mother’s addiction and suicide?