About the Book

Carla Martin-Wood explores the human spirit like an adventurer in a new world. She delves into the structure of what drives each of us through her own experience. In seasons, in time, in the beauty and wonder of our earth she exposes our mortal nature until all flesh disappears. In these poems we discover this new place where light shines on immortal bones. - Lise Whidden, Pushcart Prize nominee, author of Rosa's Blue Underwear, (The Pink Petticoat Press, 2013)

Carla Martin-Wood's latest collection of poetry is a personal journey through anguish, revelation and release. The title poem depicts the human spirit in transcendence and triumph over the obstacles confronted in life, while other poems examine the solace found in the natural world and a faith that has both challenged and fortified this pilgrimage toward spiritual freedom. Extraordinary language, vivid imagery and originality define this book's excellence on every level. - Wendy Howe, Pushcart Prize nominee, freelance writer, and former editor of The Baroque Review

From the loss of an estranged brother to the fall of JFK, Carla Martin-Wood's poetry confronts mortality head-on and never looks away. Yet hers is an art with "many pockets" from which spill images of rare and indelible power, and in the process, she finds both her own redemption and the reader's reward. The "bonecage" forms her central motif: the means by which we meld the temporal with the ethereal. Its bars hold us back only until we learn to open them. - Brenda Levy Tate, Pushcart Prize nominee, author of Wingflash (The Pink Petticoat Press, 2010)

Carla Martin-Wood's out of the bonecage singing takes readers beyond the ordinary into transcendence. She weaves keen observations of the natural world and awareness of its cycles, within cycles of traditions. Her profound insights on mortality are stunning and beautiful. Her language will grip you and pull you into her inner realizations. - Joanne Uppendahl, Pushcart Prize nominee, author of She Who Gathers Stones
About the Author: Carla Martin-Wood has been a widely published poet since 1978. Recently retired from her career in the rat race world of advertising, she is relishing her newfound freedom.

The author of five full-length books of poetry, Carla's most recent collection is Stories from Eden (The Pink Petticoat Press, 2012). She has also authored eight chapbooks, including Season of Mists (The 99% Press, 2012).

A copy of Carla's chapbook, Garden of Regret (Pudding House Publications Chapbook Series, 2009), resides in the Special Collections & University Archives at Stanford University, contributed by the renowned Russian poet, essayist and dramatist, Yevgeny Yevtushenko.

Carla's poems have appeared in a plethora of journals and numerous anthologies in the US, England, and Ireland since 1978. With a background of 13 years in theatre, she has performed her work from the hallowed University of The South at Sewanee to legendary Greenwich Village.

She has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize a dozen times, for Best of the Net twice, and is listed in Poets & Writers.

Carla has been a lifelong political and social activist. Her introduction to activism was as one of four white teens who fought their way through picket lines to break the white boycott of a high school in Birmingham, Alabama during the violent racial conflicts of 1963. She continued as an activist for human rights, the anti-war movement and NOW through the 1980s. Her current interests lie in preservation of the earth, universal healthcare and gun control.