A raw memoir-in-verse that grapples with the nonlinear path of rebuilding identity, trust, and agency after abuse. Poet and advocate Sarah Hanson debuts her poetry collection, “Conjuring the Hurricane: The Best Way to Save Your Life is Any Way You Can” (April 28, 2026, Inked Elephant Publishing).

When Sarah Hanson realized that she had to leave her abusive marriage, she didn’t have a plan. She had instinct, fear, a body that had learned to brace against danger, and a small, stubborn voice insisting she deserved more. This is the story of what it takes to leave a life that is killing you, and who you can become on the other side. 

 “Conjuring the Hurricane” braids together trauma survival, forbidden love, and the long arc of self-resurrection into a profound narrative, as intimate as a whisper and as powerful as a storm surge. Hanson lays bare the subtle mechanics of control disguised as care, the generational patterns that coil beneath our choices, and the imperfect, deeply human decisions that carve a path toward safety.

For anyone who has ever asked How did she get here? For anyone who has ever whispered How do I get out? For anyone standing at the edge of a life they can no longer endure: This book is a permission slip. Not for the perfect exit. For the exit that saves you.

SARAH HANSON is a Minneapolis poet with a Master of Arts from the University of Chicago, the school that proudly prints “Where Fun Goes to Die” on t-shirts. She graduated from the school of No Fun, the academy of Childhood Trauma, and the higher education echelon of Domestic Abuse. She remains apprenticed to life and the universal curriculum of loss, joy, healing, redemption, and resurrection.

Her poetry has been featured in Sierra Nevada Review, The Literary Times, Saranac Review, and Anti-Heroin Chic, among other literary magazines. Sarah is a contributing editor of the poetry anthology “Shaking Off the Ashes.”

She lives in Minneapolis with her husband Jay; their three cats, Darwin, Waffles, and Princess Leia; and a codependent To Be Read book pile that will follow her into the afterlife.