This is How You Fly

"You forget / how remarkable your family is / how remarkable your kids are / how remarkable you are / and / this is how / you remember," writes Rachel Toalson in this captivating, honest, and achingly beautiful volume of poetry that illuminates love, parenting, and self-acceptance in the time of COVID-19. Probing the realities of working from home, living in quarantine with seven other people, the desperate search for solitude, and balancing depression, disordered eating, and the mental health of family members, this is how you fly is an examination and celebration of life upended by unforeseen challenges. 

Written during and after the pandemic, this is how you fly is a candid documentation of the realities of life, illness, and, ultimately, survival. Toalson celebrates the day-to-day moments in lockdown, highlights the annoyance and the pleasure of living with so many people with nowhere to go, and time both flying and dragging. Her words rise above the anxiety of the unknown and offer an inspiring portrait of triumph, showing her readers: This is how you fly—you make the most of your situation.

Perfect for fans of  Mary Oliver, Sharon Olds, Billy Collins, and Maggie Smith, this is how you fly is Toalson's ninth book of poetry.