Up from the Ashes, We Rise

This book was conceived in the wake of New Mexico's worst natural disaster in written history, a fire and flood, which devastated vast areas of San Miguel and Mora Counties in northeast New Mexico. While the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon wildfire consumed more than three hundred thousand acres of forest land and some nine hundred structures, for many it also reduced to ashes a way of life which had lasted for hundreds of years, since the region was on the northern edge of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.

The title, Up from the Ashes: We Rise, embodies both the deep sense of loss many are feeling in the aftermath of this tragedy, and an equally vital sense of resolute belief in our ability to rise again, as individuals and as a community. The works of nearly forty writers are offered to readers in this collection. Most, but not all, are personal reactions to and reflections on their experiences in the time of the fire. Some are expressions and explorations of challenging experiences, not fire related.

The purpose of this book is to serve as a well of sorrow and hope, filled by the writers and available to us all to drink deeply from its healing words and reflect on our own “Up from the Ashes” moments as we too rise again.