Terri Kirby Erickson

Terri Kirby Erickson is the author of seven full-length collections of poetry, six of which were published by Press 53, including A Sun Inside My Chest, winner of the International Book Award for Poetry and Night Talks: New & Selected Poems, a finalist for “general” poetry in both the International Book Awards and the Best Book Awards. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals, magazines, newspapers, and anthologies, including “American Life in Poetry,” Asheville Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, JAMA, NASA News & Notes, ONE ART, Poetry Foundation, Poet’s Market, Rattle, storySouth, The Christian Century, The SUN, The Wonder of Small Things anthology (winner of the New England Book Award), The Writer’s Almanac, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and Verse Daily. Composer and former Director of Education for the New York Philharmonic, Theodore Wiprud, set one of her award-winning poems from A Lake of Light and Clouds (Press 53) to music along with work by Wendell Berry and others in his piece, For Allegra, which premiered in New York City in April of 2018. Another award-winning poem, excerpted from Becoming the Blue Heron (Press 53) was featured in The Sixty-Four: Best Poets of 2019 by Black Mountain Press and The Halcyone. Other honors include the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, Nautilus Silver Book Award, Nazim Hikmet Poetry Award, Atlanta Review International Publication Award, Gold Medal winner for poetry in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the Board of Regents Annals of Internal Medicine Poetry Prize, and the Key West Art and Historical Society’s Tennessee Williams Poetry Prize. She is the mother of a grown daughter and lives in North Carolina with her husband as well as his vast and wildly popular collection of colorful Loudmouth golf pants.

“Thank goodness, no tired metaphors park in Terri Kirby Erickson’s yard.” —Clyde Edgerton

“A Sun Inside My Chest is one of those big books, the kind that fling themselves straight into our hearts and wedge there forever among the songs and prayers that sustain us.” —Rhett Iseman Trull

“Terri Kirby Erickson's poems take us to the mysteries of the natural world and the world of family and friends with magical sureness.” —Diana Pinckney

“Terri Kirby Erickson writes poetry about the real stuff, engagingly, with sympathy and an open eye.” —Peter Tork

“More than a poet, Terri Kirby Erickson is the best friend you always wanted, the kind you can count on both to tell you the truth, and to help you bear it.” –Sharon Randall

Praise for Night Talks: New & Selected Poems

The poems in Night Talks are comfortably below the strange abstract. They settle into real good places. And thank goodness, no tired metaphors park in Terri Kirby Erickson’s yard. Only fresh ones pull in for our pleasure and surprise. These poems go to new places and show us that we all have a precious lot in common—something we need to know, right now. 

—Clyde Edgerton, author of Raney and Redeye

Where to begin praising Night Talks: New & Selected Poems—this beautiful, generous, satisfying book? I have dog-eared poem after poem I want to read again and mention, and made notes in margin after margin. Terri Kirby Erickson is at the height of her powers spinning the dross of loss into the gold of compassion and art. Her poet’s eye captures love in settings others might not notice: tender family interactions in “Free Breakfast,” her mother’s and now her own way with “Egg Salad,” another mother-daughter interaction in “The Ophthalmology Specialists’ Secondary Waiting Room.” There are other poems about dramatic and profound losses that the poet has endured, but through the losses she has continued to praise the world. This is a book that makes me want to be a better poet and a better person. Give a copy to everyone you love. 

—Donna Hilbert, author of Threnody and Gravity: New & Selected Poems

The world has a secret history—we don’t know who invented the wheel and, more importantly, the axle that allows the wheel to spin—and each life does as well. These poems give immense pleasure, but they also teach by example; they look at the photos stored in the poet’s memory bank so carefully, thoughtfully, and empathetically that I found myself going back over my own experiences using the techniques I picked up here. What a stunning artist Terri Kirby Erickson is! I’m not related to her, but I wish I were.

—David Kirby, author of Help Me, Information