Birdhouse Books and Christopher Luna welcome poet Erin Aurelia for January’s First Friday Poetry Night!

First Friday Poetry Night! is a poetry series featuring an everchanging slate of talented local poets hosted by Birdhouse Books and Christopher Luna. Catch us each First Friday at 7pm in the heart of VDA’s Art Walk. Drop by early to browse the books, soak in the art, and pick up some delicious treats upstairs at Short & Sweet before the show.

Erin Aurelia writes poetry like a surgeon, a spelunker, an exorcist, and an astronaut: she cuts out tumors, traverses the subterranean, faces down demons, and wanders the cosmos. She edits nonfiction books by day as the owner of Sunshine Editorial Services & Book Coaching and writes and performs poetry by night. She is the author of Bone & Stars: A Constellation of Poems of Healing and Recovery from Narcissistic Abuse, in which she writes on the themes of trauma recovery, reclamation of self, and the unflinching embrace of powerful emotions. Erin is also the author of The Torch of Brighid: Flametending for Transformation, and her writing has been featured in two anthologies by Goddess Ink: Brigit: Sun of Womanhood, and Stepping into Ourselves: An Anthology of Priestesses, and in an anthology by Moon Books titled Paganism 101: An Introduction to Paganism by 101 Pagans. She served as the Poetry Managing Editor for the Spring 2021 edition of VoiceCatcher, an online women’s literary journal featuring short stories, poetry, and art by women of the Pacific Northwest. Erin is the mother of two grown sons and lives in Vancouver, Washington, where she is known for her lyrical, dynamic performances in shows and open mics, in which she is frequently accompanied by her favorite local musicians. Find her online at www.sunshneeditorialservices.com/erin-aurelia-poet, and follow her poetry on Facebook and Instagram at erinaureliapoetry.

Bone & Stars: A Constellation of Poems of Healing and Recovery from Narcissistic Abuse is a constellation of poems that forms the shape of one woman’s transformation from suffering emotional abuse and being rendered silent to finding liberation and reclaiming her voice. Each of these poems reveals a visceral determination to truly live, not just as the walking dead of someone numb with denial, but as someone who is their whole and defiantly shining self. Together, this composition of poems takes the reader through the poet’s journey of escaping an abusive marriage, reconciling what it means to endure an abuse that does not leave marks, healing the damage she endured, and recovering her lost voice to rise like a phoenix, fierce and unapologetic. This poetry collection is for those who have endured, are enduring, or wonder whether they are experiencing an emotionally abusive relationship, as we do not always recognize what we are experiencing when there is no blood to show us, so we need words to serve as that mirror instead. This book is a confirmation that all kinds of abuse cuts, wounds, and kills the spirit, as it is intended to; that enduring it is not our fault; and that we can liberate and recover ourselves and our voices to live as our true selves, shining and whole, as the generative and creative Sun of our own world, rather than as a moon that can only revolve around and reflect light for others.