Prayers Are the Kites We Fly

In Prayers Are the Kites We Fly, Toni Ortner writes from the edge of the known world—where grief, wonder, and endurance meet. These poems rise from the rubble of war and the quiet of Vermont fields, carrying the same question skyward: what does it mean to hope in an age of ruin?

From the devastated streets of Ukraine to the infinite silence of the galaxies, Ortner traces the trembling thread that connects human suffering to the cosmic order. Her language moves between elegy and revelation, between the immediacy of broken glass and the vastness of the Milky Way. The result is a collection that insists on both witness and awe.

A poet of conscience and clarity, Ortner brings her lifelong craft to bear on the world’s wounds and mysteries. In these pages, prayer is not escape but flight—a fragile, persistent ascent toward light and meaning.

Hope is the bird with tiny wings who sings over broken glass.

Toni Ortner lives in Vermont and has thirty-three books published by small presses. You can find her books, reviews, and listen to a recording at toniortner.com. Her forthcoming books include Monarch in the Desert (a tribute to Georgia O’Keeffe) from Dancing Girl Press and Passing Through from Deerbrook Editions. Ortner hosts the Putney Library Writers Salon on Zoom each winter to introduce presses and writers to Vermont readers. She has taught at the University of Connecticut and Monroe, among others, and has won grants from PEN America and the Authors League.