"Yet as I weeded through a great stack of gardening anthologies, I realized that many felt quite historic. Others were academic, tracing the history of garden literature from the important insight that the English word paradise comes from a Persian word for "walled garden"."

I am so grateful to say that this book provided by Storey Publishing and Tess Taylor through NetGalley is my very first ARC ever, and wow, what a way to start.

I was instantly drawn to it when I saw the cover, probably Thee most gorgeous cover I've seen in years, and when I read the subtitle, "Poems for Gardens & the Hands That Tend Them", I knew I would love this. I never imagined I needed this book, but after finishing it, I realize how much of me is buried on these pages.

I took the book into my little garden; I'm very fortunate to have a patch of land where the sun hits for hours during the day to grow my treasures. It's wintertime here now, so everyone is kind of asleep, apart from my chives. Do chives ever stop? I don't think I've ever seen a bunch of chives stopping to just relax and not grow anything for a while. The parsley is also doing quite nice, though I haven't picked it up in a while because ants have colonized the inner stems and roots in the shape of an aphid farm. When I saw it at first, I thought they were eggs, but upon closer inspection the eggs had little legs and squirmed a bit whenever touched even slightly. I've read online that you can kill them all off quite easily, but there's no reason to. I respect ants so much. Plus, the parsley continues to strive even with all the aphids. My basils - I have two varieties growing, Genovese and Spicy Globe basil - are the ones who were hit the hardest by the cold, and their yellowing leaves have become a favourite spot for spiders and other tiny crickets. I leave them be as well, but when spring comes, I'll have to rehouse them somewhere. I sat there for hours, listening to the birds and raising my eyes from the pages every once in a while, telling myself: I'm not the only one.

In the book, I could see myself in everyone else's gardens. When they described their growings, I sometimes I had to look something up or another, only to find out that we're all surrounded by so much of the same, everywhere in the world, even if we have wildly different names for this same. I know what they mean when they talk about the shift in the time and space that happens in gardens, even the smallest, most discrete, narrowest ones, surviving despite the odds in the concrete mess of big cities. I know what they mean when they talk of the silence in gardens, how meditative it becomes despite ourselves and our anxieties, how forced we are to be gentle and meticulous in a time of rush and hurry. I cried when I read about the way grief is always around us when we're at a garden, how life and death are always there, at the same time, never apart, one season bringing about openings and closings at once. My absolute favourite poem from the whole anthology - which I learned in this book means "a collection of flowers" - is one called "Feeding the Worms" by Victoria Chang, which begins like this:

"Ever since I found out that earth worms have taste buds all over the delicate pink strings of their bodies, I pause dropping apple peels into the compost bin, imagine the dark, writhing ecstasy, the sweetness of apples permeating their pores."

I cried and laughed when I found this one, because it is something I experienced so strongly it felt like I had written it myself. I used to feel almost scared of worms, of how they squirmed desperately upon being discovered under the earth, how slimy and cold their pale bodies were; ever since I started to garden, I've grown fond of them to the point where I can't move and stir the earth with any tools, afraid I might hurt them. I dig all the way to my wrists, and when I find a worm, long and thick and fat from all the pits and pieces of veggies and tea bags we've left for them, I don't flinch. Rather, my heart warms up. I put it back on the dark chocolate earth with a promise of more. I love worms now. They're what makes the soil breathe!

I don't know if I would've loved this book so much if I wasn't already a baby gardener, if I wasn't already in love with worms and with the spider webs and the silence. I don't know if past me, who was very "urban-minded" and didn't care at all for the birds who woke her up each morning - who hated mornings, imagine that! - would have felt any curiousity or desire if she had read that book. I do however recommend it to everyone, whether you live among abundant greenery that you take for granted or if you have a tiny herb planter section on your apartment windowsill that you treat like daughters. I hope you'll finish the book with a deep yearning to make your thumbs greener - I personally am looking up ways to build an ever larger green box, and I'll be getting oregano and cherry tomatoes seeds later in the week, to hopefully see them blossom around christmas.

A nice book but not really what I was expecting. I felt it was more of a short memoir than a poetry book. I am not a fan of memoirs but I liked a few poems.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I am not a gardener, but may be I’ll become one after reading this enjoyable and diverse collection of poems.

This is such a truly beautiful book!

Is there anything more joyful than going to the forest and reading a collection of poems which are truly beautiful and captivating .
Thank you so much to the author and publishers for this wonderful read

Thank you to #Netgalley and #Storeypublishing for granting me access to this arc in return for an honest review.

Leaning toward light is a beautiful. meaningful poetry anthology from diverse authors all accompanied with gorgeous illustrations by Melissa Castrillon. The theme is a celebration of plants and the joy they can bring and our compulsive need to grow and nurture gardens and our personal plant collections.
It's a must-buy for me. Highly recommended.

A beautiful book filled with beautiful poems. Poetry is hit or miss for me and I need to be in the right mindset to be able to enjoy it, so this book took me a while to get through. Once I started though, I jumped around and found some really amazing poems I otherwise wouldn't have read.

as a gardener, i might have enjoyed this beacoup more than the average reader. The art work is Stunning with a capital S. The seasonal format is cute and endearing. But the cherry on top, was the cottagecore-esque poetry throughout the book. Some poems were a miss but overall there is something here for everyone!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I loved the artwork of this book, but that was about it. The writing did not hold me, and I went from one page to the next without being drawn in or touched. I thank NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the chance to see what was between the beautiful cover.

Leaning toward Light by Tess Taylor is a collection of poetry from many diverse voices that celebrates our connection with nature.

While I enjoyed most of the poems, some seemed to fit the theme of the collection better than others, and a few seemed clearly out of place. Overall, this was a lovely, reflective poetry collection containing some highs and lows with most of the poems falling somewhere in between.

Leaning Toward Light releases August 29, 2023. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Very "crunchy" outdoorsy collection of poems, observations about gardens, conversations around gardens, pandemic gardening, etc.

I learned a few new things while reading like..."anthology" means a gathering of flowers. A gathering of poems about flowers, plants, gardening and being outside is a spot-on title for this collection.

The descriptions are so detailed and across many types of gardens, walks of life, backgrounds, plants, and seasons. Highly recommend if you are outdoorsy and into gardening.

I very much enjoyed the beautiful poetry and the mixture of poems with recipes and short writings in this book. It was interesting that there were not only modern poets included in the book but poems from classic poets as well. I do wish there had been more recipes included, as I thought that was a very interesting touch. I definitely think the ways that this book is organized by seasons and the harvests of crops is a wonderful way to show young folks the joys of gardening, harvesting, and cooking.

ARC Rating 4/5 ⭐️

I really liked the cover of this book 🌱☀️

This was a very enjoyable anthology of poetry, from a wide range of people, all leaning toward growing, green space, time outside etc. I really enjoyed the collection of poetic writing, stories, poetry, art, and recipes.

Thank you NetGalley, Storey Publishing and Tess Taylor for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.

Loved this anthology so much- will incorporate into our classroom when we’re learning about plants and growth. A great addition for poetry tea time

This collection of poetry is a delightful collection!

As someone who likes to get their hands dirty and lean into my garden, this collection is welcomed into my home.

Thank you netgalley for this e-galley!

I’d like to thank Tess Taylor, Storey Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with the digital ARC of Leaning Toward Light.

This book is a beautiful collection of insights from people of various backgrounds and cultures that revolve around our relationship with ourselves and its reflection in nature.

I was enamored with the illustrations and the way they skillfully separated the different stages of growth and tending, capturing the shifting of seasons and the progress of plants. Each chapter felt like a journey through the processes of processing and healing, conveyed by the contributing poets in a way that feels safe and comforting.

My overall takeaway is that, like a garden, we need to tend to ourselves and create an environment that encourages our flourishing. Leaning Toward Light highlights the resilience that both plants and humans possess and celebrates our interconnected journey with the world around us. While there are moments of beauty, there are also day-to-day challenges that can distract us from it.

Whether you are a poetry enthusiast or someone seeking introspection, I highly recommend picking up this book and immersing yourself in its pages, stepping into your own garden.

Over the past year or so, I have been seeking solace in poetry, and have really enjoyed looking at different types of poetry out there for the consumer. When I saw this book, come up as review, I was super excited to check it out! This book did not disappoint, and had beautifully written, and deeply meaningful prose which can absolutely be related to life and joy in growth. Tending to nature in a mindful matter can bring such joy and gratitude to a person.

Beautiful book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

Absolutely gorgeous. I loved this book, it really is beautiful. As someone who has recently discovered a love for plants and the joy of having them growing around me, this poetry hit hard and I reveled in every page.

I personally felt like this book didn’t grab or hold my attention very well. I liked the opening and the background on the author, but the individual sections were eh. I did not feel like it was organized or put together very well.

Leaning toward Light, and anthology, by Tess Taylor captures the essence of art and nature. As I sit and write my own poetry in a poetry garden located on San Juan Island, I fully understand the liberation of a gardens and art. Rather than feel bound and trapped by urban structures, the poetry and the garden work together to spawn thoughts and ideas. This book exemplifies freedom to express art.

Poems in this anthology reflect the essence of poetry. All gardens and the plants within them lean toward a direction. They rely on sun, warmth, and posture to blossom

Any poet knows they lean on something in their words, verse, or intention. The art captures their reality and the expression embraces their fall. Courage and despair receive grace from light. Each poet represents the art. To cultivate more. Depth, color, direction, and motivation appear in the images of flowers. Fruits and vegetables provide the palate for the audience to attain.

Whether the poet is contemporary or of the past, all plants in the garden continue to grow. The art continues to grow with each poem by the nature of the garden.

I always feel that poetry finds its way to me when I need it most, poetry after all is one of the most vulnerable acts wherein baring and bearing one’s soul. This poetry collection absolutely found its way to me when I was in a place to read, appreciate and feel all these collective and diverse poems. I loved the recipes that some of the poems and entries had attached to them too!