when i was the wind
hannah lee jones
Paperback • 5.5” x 8.5” • 100 pages • $16
October 4, 2022 • ISBN
978-1-7356783-6-8
Washington State Book Award finalist
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Eric Hoffer Award Winner
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Nautilus Book Award gold winner
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First Horizon Award winner
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IPPY Award Bronze Medalist
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Pushcart Prize Special Mention
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Washington State Book Award finalist • Eric Hoffer Award Winner • Nautilus Book Award gold winner • First Horizon Award winner • IPPY Award Bronze Medalist • Pushcart Prize Special Mention •
In her debut poetry collection, Hannah Lee Jones brings readers on a mythic journey across a vast physical and metaphysical landscape. Four cardinal directions point the way through this inner wilderness, through trials and initiations, suffering and discovery, on a restless quest for deeper connection and wholeness. What emerges is a richly textured map of love and loss, a tapestry of hard-won truths both personal and universal. At turns mysterious, dreamlike, intimate, and illuminating, these poems explore what is wild and timeless in the human soul.
The wind and the road are your parents now.
Your new body is happening west of here.
Audiobook
“A new voice for these times . . . This work has a fascinating rhythm—bright and flowing, creating its own dance. As these extraordinary poems walk along the rivers, explore the deserts and mountains, sail the seas, and rediscover history, we take notice of our own fragility and that of the world. These poems are mile markers for a new road, carrying along all who join Jones on the journey. With an undercurrent of grit, there is just enough magic here to intrigue all who still want to believe in the best within us all.”
“Like stepping into a beautiful dream where women fly over orchards and we encompass the landscape. There are few collections of poems so meditative that I lose myself so deeply . . . When I Was the Wind is a remarkable and gorgeous debut collection—you will be better having read these poems.”
—Kelli Russell Agodon, author of Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon)
“It’s as if the wind were choosing among possible bodies, possible lives, in which dirt and diamonds are indistinguishable.”
—Red Pine (Bill Porter), translator and author of Finding Them Gone (Copper Canyon)
“The poems instantly plunge the reader into primal, stark imagery that speaks of suffering and longing as well as love and the strength to either continue the quest onward or find one’s way back in hauntingly beautiful, sometimes heartbreaking impressions. . . . While this may be the author’s debut collection of poems, the wisdom held within its pages is immortal and particularly relevant in a world where many feel they have lost their way.”
Recognition
Pushcart Prize Special Mention (for the poem “Longing Town”), 2024 anthology
2023 Washington State Book Award finalist in poetry
“A storybook map towards destinations both actual and cosmic. These poems calibrate by cardinal points and seasons, by the four elements and and landscapes therein, creating a stunning tapestry of place, memory, and consciousness.” —Tiffany Midge, judge and 2021 finalist
2023 Eric Hoffer Award winner in poetry
2023 Nautilus Book Award gold winner in poetry
2023 IPPY Awards bronze medalist in poetry
2023 First Horizon Award winner in poetry
Spotlight in the Port Townsend Leader: “Local Poet Recognized,” July 26, 2023
Included in Independent Book Review’s “30 Impressive Indie Books of 2022,” December 2022
Small Press Distribution poetry bestseller, October and November 2022
Prize season press release (fall 2023; Word doc) • Media tip sheet (PDF) • Washington State Book Awards poetry finalists poster (PDF)
About the Author
Hannah Lee Jones is a poet and nomad whose adventures have taken her all over the desert Southwest in search of Jack Kerouac’s “timeless, dear love of everything.” Born in Camden, New Jersey, to Korean immigrant parents, she worked in marketing and outreach for higher education and nonprofits before setting out on the road. She runs Primal School, a coaching resource devoted to literature and ideas that promote a life of meaning, and her writing has been published in numerous journals and social media outlets. She currently makes her home in Port Townsend, Washington. You can find her on Instagram and other online platforms @hannahwritten.
Listen to Hannah talk about the book’s origins and her own journey on the Straight Up Living podcast (January 2022) and the Terra Signals podcast (October 2023).
Learn more about Hannah in the VoyageUtah interview “Rising Stars: Meet Hannah Lee Jones” (August 2023).
About the Cover
Utah-based artist Cody Chamberlain is particularly interested in exploring the life cycles laid bare in desert landscapes. This large-format painting from his Bird of Prey series draws on the wild and elemental forces at work in the natural world of the American West.
Book companion playlist
Music curated by the author to accompany the collection
