The poems found in Dreams of a Wingless Child are presented as an invitation to the reader--an encouragement to find happiness in simplicity, in imagination, in being in touch with whatever lies beyond the obvious.

Drawing on the creatures, rhythms and forces of the natural world as her primary source of imagery, award-winning poet Mary O'Connor looks at such subjects as the split heart hoof of a deer, the flight of hummingbirds and butterflies, and the presumed finality of stone and darkness and turns them into metaphors for the emotions and milestones of life.

It is through this connection, these fleeting moments of insight, that she finds a sense of place, and with it a realization that one need not look far to find an element of peace, of celebration, of the fulfillment of a dream in this inordinate world of which we are a part.

Dreams of a Wingless Child,
ISBN: 978-1-58736-803-5, Wheatmark Books, April 2007, Paperback, 5x8, 80 pp.
   
Dedication
For my mother and father, who inspired me to explore, to imagine, to reach for my dreams. For my friends, who encouraged me to capture through words the fleeting images of truth and dreams, and for Julie Carlson, whose photography preserves them in living color. For the Freedom Writers, who use the power of writing to achieve dreams for themselves and the world.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
With thanks to the editors of the following publications, in which poems from this book first appeared:

The Aurorean - Backyard Ministry, Snowline, Rusty Leaves

Avocet - Flight of the Monarch, Jellies (originally published as Just Drifting), Meditation, Origin of Prayer, Silkworms

High Tide 1999 Anthology - Requiem (originally published as Titanic Song; awarded first place in the Milford Fine Arts Council National Poetry Contest, 1999)

The Merton Seasonal, Summer 2003 - The Rose (awarded Honorable Mention by U.S. Poet Laureate, Stanley Kunitz, in Thomas Merton Foundation Poetry of the Sacred, 2003)