You can order my poetry book The Phoenix Requires Ashes on Amazon via this link.

or independent bookstore via this link

These poems are an exploration of the human condition through the lens of a mental health therapist. They are about reclaiming and celebrating oneself and one's story in a time of turmoil. The collection walks the reader through the quest to meet ourselves and uncover resilience. Along the way we grapple with accepting the paradoxes of being human and meet allies that accompany us on the journey.  

Maureen has been published in many places, including Time Magazine and book anthologies. She is a Sue Boynton Poetry Walk Award winner.  She is also the author of A Guide Back to You, a workbook for exploring who you are and staying true to yourself.

Feedback:

"Here in The Phoenix Requires Ashes, Maureen Kane reaches the soul of that which cannot be easily named and puts words to the longing for connection with our secret truths. Yes, in these pages, "deep calls to deep." Read with an open heart and you will find your own shadow, your own grief, your own hope, and ultimately, your own resilience. Every poem is a beautiful acknowledgement of what it means to be a human whose full complexity deserves to be mined."
    _Cami Ostman author of Second Wind: One Woman's Midlife Quest to Run Seven Marathons on Seven Continents

“If I had to use one word to describe Maureen Kane’s fine poetry, it would be “elemental.” Kane has the ability to boil down what’s important in life to its essence, to boil the bones and use the elixir as if reading the tea leaves of the soul. Often she uses the elements in a space beyond metaphor. A fox here. A leaf there. Even tin foil crinkles open to reveal the heart. Her poetry will haunt your dreams. You have been warned.”

    _Bliss Goldstein, MLA. Author of God is in the Detours: Lessons Learned by Going Off My Mother’s Map, Founding editor of Tangents magazine, Stanford University. Winner 2022 Sue C Boynton Poetry Award.

"I'm reading, for the second time, a perfect book of poetry. The Phoenix Requires Ashes by Maureen Sandra Kane. She is deeply talented, and her poetry is filled with sharp insights and moving emotion. The first piece in the book, Let Yourself Be Weary, brought tears of recognition to my eyes. Each poem is a gem in its own way.  Even a simple apple held in Kane's hand inspires rumination on all the lives that piece of fruit and it's growth have touched in its travels to a pie pan in her kitchen."
   _Sandra Parshall Author of Poisoned Ground, The Heat of The Mon, Broken Places, Under the Dog Star, and Disturbing the Dead.

"Maureen’s ability to touch the depth of the inner journey never ceases to amaze me.  Her  poems allow me to touch the experience of healing, in all its stages and complexities, with gentle grace. I am frequently struck by her ability to render the physicality of healing work with both truth and tenderness."

    _Mendy McLean-Stone MEd, MA, BCN – Therapist, MMS Counseling

“Maureen Sandra Kane makes exquisite use of the images of her Pacific Northwest milieu.  Her work can be as earthy as Pablo Neruda’s, or as ethereal as Richard Bach’s. The process of realizing who one is, as laid out in the pages of this volume, becomes more appealing and less painful with this guidebook.  You will meditate on Kane’s words long after you finish reading them.”

    _Sean Dwyer author of A Quest for Tears:  Surviving Traumatic Brain Injury

Hi, Maureen:

Just a note to tell you how much I have enjoyed your book. As I was reading it again, I jotted down words that came to mind: beautiful, kindness, compassion, patience, love, grace, and knowing. Your book is borne of a tender attentiveness and a resilient affirmation of how pain can bring one to a place of power. "It seems we are designed to be vulnerable when we grow."
 

Two poems that affected me deeply are "Change," and "Silence," where your reader encounters "Life-changing wisdom" that "compel[s] her to read it three times." Oh, how much we yearn sometimes to feel like we do in our vision of peace and blissful assurance, like "a languid sea turtle lazily gliding in sunlit waters." Because none of us can live inside our dreams, we must bring what we can from them into our everyday-bright-and-tactile reality, as you've done with your totem of that spirit, "sparkly purple with a laughing grin on her face." Yes! All is well.
 

Oh yes, and your note to us in “The Rigging,” that "Trees are made to create the very rain they need." And your clever poem, "Acceptance, Except . . .." Thank you for the Rumi quote and for your personal interpretation of what he meant, relevant to you and by extension, of course, to us all.
 

"This Apple," a single object one can hold in hand, becomes a catalyst for your appreciation of the contributions and sacrifices of so many others who bring us good things through their labors. We love best when we pay attention. Is this how bees make honey?

Your praise of the Madrona compliments Baca's charge to "fuss about on its branches." The details in "Look Up" is a “full-throated vinyasa[!]"
 

"Closed Doorway" is another of my favorites. Your question, "What if the door is just an idea and there is nowhere to go?" stopped me. I thought about it for a while. It is the question that comes to my mind many times with different phrasings. I'm so pleased you've underscored your belief in transformation, even when it doesn't seem possible.
 

Thank you, Maureen. You're a fine poet. I'm going to suggest your book to my friends, many of whom write.

    _Marilyn H.