These poems dwell in the hearth of domesticity, but they look beyond the confines of the home with clear eyes. Boldly unafraid, they confront the realities of climate change, the desecration of habitat, some quiet truths about aging and death. There is no doubt that these are poems written by a woman. But even though many of them deal with the domestic world long considered the 'domain' of females, they reach well beyond the realm of the kitchen and tradition. They are a celebration of the quiet glory ensconced in the 'practical' nature of the everyday world, even though that world may often feel overwhelmingly filled with 'anxiety'

Heidi Greco is a longtime resident of Surrey, British Columbia, where she has been involved as a literary activist. She writes in many genres. Her essays and reviews have appeared in magazines and newspapers. Her novella, Shrinking Violets, came out in 2011. Her poems have been included in many anthologies: Practical Anxiety is her third book of poetry. She occasionally leads workshops on a range of topics from ekphrastic writing to chapbook making. She enjoys puttering in the kitchen and in a range of crafts and delights in foraging for edible tidbits.

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"Heidi Greco's abundantly generous new collection, Practical Anxiety, sings "praises to the light." Not afraid to hold death in her open hands, Greco is also alive to the "happy slurry of life." This is poetry of breadth and depth, shimmering with firefly-quick intelligence and imagination. It is a book to cherish."
--Anne Simpson, author of Loop

"Heidi Greco's poems in Practical Anxiety capture the recollected fears of childhood in the bowl of "bedtime hands," and acknowledge, to an almost-honouring of, the irky angsts being an adult is amid its "skeltered" piles of unwashed dishes. Greco rewrites the psalms, celebrates threatened "blood-ruddy" ecosystems, reminds us of the dangers in "clutching remotes instead of each other." This collection of lyrical noticings can't simply be summed up as "domestic," but instead must be considered as a set of vital knowings from one fully alive woman's life. A moving and necessary collection!"
--Catherine Owen, author of The Day of the the Dead and Dear Ghost

"This collection is a triumph. In her detailing of "anxieties" that give her "practical" poems, in her sounding of clear notes of bewilderment, celebration, reflection, intense observation of other people and the natural world, and many-levelled love, Greco signs up her life under a scrupulous, subtle lyricism, with warmth and with never-failing charm."
--Russell Thornton, author of The Hundred Lives