Tree Failure and Other Advent Poems: A Conversational Lament -- A collection of 50 poems that capture the observations and responses of authors Kara Dillow and Susan Wiggin, sharing poetic prompts to help navigate and process shock, loss and grief in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene; the "1000 year flood" and environmental disaster that hit their mountain region east of Asheville, NC on September 27, 2024. Pressing into recovery and restoration in the weeks and months that followed, each witnessing the same devastation through their unique worldview - Dillow, a lover of the natural world raised in Swannanoa, NC, and Wiggin, a follower of Jesus Christ raised in Boston, MA - the acquaintances became friends, trading daily poetry prompts and conversation about the impact of living everyday lives through extraordinarily difficult times; oddly framed by the coming season of Advent. Sharing a common love for creation helped the women process the violence of the storm and flood, and discover that while nature had wrought and sustained frightening devastation is also offers certain hope for healing in its evident design.
In the Celtic-influenced, storytelling tradition of southern Appalachia, writers Dillow and Wiggin found the language of poetry and artistic dialogue helped them recover from Hurricane Helene and the regional natural disaster that devastated the Asheville, NC area in September of 2024, drawing them deep into the dark and hard, then wheeling back out to the light of solace, peace and even humor as the rhythms of the created order resumed over the following months. As everyday heroes from around the Nation pressed in and the region rallied, they found their voices part of a broader, uniquely Ashevillian conversation of varied worldviews and perspectives, where differences mattered less than respect for shared humanity, experience of hardship, and the mutual care and encouragement that followed.
