In her introduction to the anthology, Words From the Café, editor Anna Balint writes, “Safe Place Writing Circle is more about discovery.” This is our privilege too, to learn about and from ten featured writers, and twelve other contributors. Her careful selections are accompanied by personal interviews, biographies, and photographer Willie Pugh’s sensitive portraits. The authors, who cross cultures, backgrounds, and various stages of recovery, attend the writing circle with equally varied frequency.

The Recovery Café buiding, in which the writing circle takes place, fills a special niche—Washington state ranked 38th this year in providing access to mental health care. On her first visit Megan writes, “The closer I got to the building, the more people nodded at me.” Kindness and community are words mentioned frequently inside this book.

You will remember these poems and short stories for their honesty and insights; lines that ring with wisdom. Examples range from Johnnie’s short story about kindness entitled, “Stars Can’t Shine Without Darkness,” to Rachel’s line written about childhood memories, where “Scabs formed and fell off like seasons.” Advice from Mary Jo includes the lines, “Knowing life ends/ encourages me to live fully/ right now.”

It is humbling to read the difficulties Safe Place Writers face yet overcome in surprising ways—discover how Taumstar manages her concentration issues, then read her poem, “Finding My Voice,” which expands into a creative discourse on “Finding my voice in my voices.”

Bang uses humor in his poem, “To Stress”: “You weren’t always welcome/ but you came along anyways.” Steve describes his experience on a long hike, where “The light is brighter, deeper, vaster.” His narrative on meeting a black bear is riveting.

In a short piece titled “Beauty Queen,” Angel describes her mother’s Friday night dance performances, then closes with these words, “my own illness would turn out to be the same as hers.” A reminder that many deal with childhood chaos and genetic inheritance. Later she writes the turnaround, “Anything is possible, I am living proof.”

If you want insights into human resilience, or inspiration to change your life, read this book: 206 pages from the heart. As Tamar informs us, “A new beginning doesn’t have to start in January.”

Sharon M. Carter, M.D. grew up in a Lancashire seaside town. She studied medical sciences at Cambridge University and St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London. The University of Cardiff Medical School rotation system provided the placements for her Family Practice and Psychiatry residencies. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1979 with U.K. post-graduate diplomas, she became Board certified in Psychiatry and Neurology, practicing in a variety of non-profit organizations. Her specialty trended toward complex, medically-compromised Bipolar spectrum clients. She recently retired from a volunteer medical position on Washington state’s Olympic peninsula.

The Hedgebrook Foundation and Jackstraw Writers program generously provided valuable support during her early writing career. She has been a co-editor of an online literary magazine and assisted the Northwind Reading Series. Her visual art and poetry have been published in many print magazines and online, including the Raven Chronicles award winning anthology: Take a Stand: Art Against Hate, Exhibition, Pontoon, Poetry on the Buses, Ars Medica, Terra Nova and Heliotrope. A chapbook entitled Quiver is at the printers. For more information visit: sharonmcarter.com

Review of Words From the Café, by Sharon M. Carter