Atlas of Roots By Beth Kope

Atlas of Roots  By Beth Kope

Atlas of Roots By Beth Kope

“I have one page, yellowed, folded, one paper / that spreads what I know of myself / thinly across it, letters drop from the edge / blow off the page from my sighs” from the poem “Blanks” are lines that indicate what beautiful yet poignant poetry lies in these pages.

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Atlas of Roots Paperback – September 7, 2021 by Beth Kope

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Caitlin Press Inc. (September 7, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 96 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1773860518
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1773860510
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.3 x 8 inches

“I have one page, yellowed, folded, one paper / that spreads what I know of myself / thinly across it, letters drop from the edge / blow off the page from my sighs” from the poem “Blanks” are lines that indicate what beautiful yet poignant poetry lies in these pages.  Beth Kope’s use of language is eloquent and moving.  Her work is personal.  Her poems make you feel like you are sitting with her while she reads them to you.  Most of these poems’ subjects are adoption stories of searching, upheaval and more.  There is so much below the surface. 

Cold

Search to find comfort, then, child.
Follow a forest path
salvage a nest, meager and mossy
torn from a branch in high winds.
Tuck the shredded remnant
into your pocket.
Hold to your quest.
To a distant mother
knowing some comforts are cold.

About the Author

Beth Kope grew up in Alberta and is honoured to live, work, and play in Victoria, BC, Coast Salish territory of Lekwungen and WSANEC nations. Kope has taught in Alberta, Adelaide, Australia and Quebec and currently works at Camosun College. She has published two poetry collections and has been included in the anthologies Refugium: Poems for the Pacific (Caitlin Press, 2017) and Sweet Water: Poems for the Watersheds (Caitlin Press, 2020). Kope’s first book, Falling Season (Leaf Press, 2010) detailed her mother’s decline due to an aggressive form of dementia called Lewy Body, which BC BookWorld described as “poems of honest dismay and almost unbearable sadness”. Her second book, Average Height of Flight (Caitlin Press, 2015) was a meditation on West Coast landscape and grief and a poem from the collection was featured in Poetry in Transit. Kope has read at Word on the Street Vancouver, been a featured reader at Planet Earth Poetry, The Writer’s Studio Reading Series, and The Victoria Festival of Authors. She is the co-host, along with Yvonne Blomer, of the annual Forest Poet-Tree event which is part of the Victoria Festival of Authors.