Ordinary Omens

Ordinary Omens is an exploration of moments in our lives that have a connection to the extraordinary. The poems seek understanding of both common and unusual occurrences, examining their ties to nature and the natural world, as well as the supernatural via the tools and rituals associated with faith, superstition, luck, and magic.

Here you will find a yearning to understand the past (both our own personal history and that of others) and how it influences our future. In these selections, Bjerken dives into the timelessness of love, the fearful and wondrous gift of motherhood, the presence of hope amid uncertainty, the power of faith, and the resolution of a repeated wish.

"Ordinary Omens combines earthly beauty with cosmic magic. Each poem contains its own universe, paying tribute to our senses with detailed imagery. The reader will soar on the wings of pure poetry, poetry our world needs now more than ever."

-Nila J. Webster, author of Remember Rain

"With trusting intimacy and captivating sensuality, Bjerken traces the ecstatic, headlong cycles of desire and fulfillment from which enduring love is spun. Her poems remind us that, in our loving and loved bodies, we are of the same dirt as the earthworm and burrowing rabbit, the same air as the birds, the same water as the minnow born ready to swim and make a home in-and of-this world."

-Jonathan Johnson, author of May Is an Island

"LeAnn Bjerken's Ordinary Omens opens with a spell and then casts one. Reading this book feels like we're in a world that is both familiar and new, made so by the magic of language and love."

-Laura Read, author of But She Is Also Jane