Wilderness

Wilderness is a collection of poems chronicling a family's transition from conflict into peace. The structure is free-verse poetry. Written in various points of view, the work uses quotes from The Pilgrim's Progress for names of poems, epigraphs, and section titles.
Wilderness has two major parts. The first section deals with the rising dysfunction before the family gives their wounds to God. Marriage stress, mental illness, an absent father, and troubled childhoods create deep complications in this blended family. The central character is the wife/mother, who attempts to manage herself and her home.
The second half is marked by these characters undergoing the messy transition into health and spiritual healing. Delving into the inner workings of an American family, Wilderness seeks to excavate a damaged past for the purpose of embracing restoration.


""Wilderness, Anna Ivey's emotionally-riveting second collection of poetry, documents a story of struggle and redemption. In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds--a buried father, a wounded daughter, a conflict-ridden new marriage--a woman searches for meaning and self-acceptance. As the book unfolds, we witness her transformation through faith from a posture of defense to one of empathy, forgiveness, and love.""
--Beth Gylys, Professor of English, Georgia State University

""I celebrate Anna Ivey's elegant new collection not only for its lyrical invention and emotional honesty but also for its humility in naming the mythology of family life. These poems find a language for the space between epiphanies and restore to daily experience the grace of art.""
--Carey Scott Wilkerson, author of Threading Stone and Seven Dreams of Falling


Anna K. Ivey holds a PhD in Poetry from Georgia State University. She teaches high school English at Eagle's Landing Christian Academy, where she also serves as the student support director. This is her second book of poetry. Her first, into the leftover blue, was published in 2016.