Little Pockets of Glow

"My revolution is a quiet one," Melinda Coppola writes in this love-soaked collection of "psalm-songs" that invites readers into a landscape of not only sorrows, but of a wondrous compassion and beauty. Her poems sing, whisper, slow dance, and indeed glow, offering readers a love story of motherhood, autism, and the healing magic of tenderness and time.

-Jena Schwartz, author, Fierce Encouragement: 201 Writing Prompts for Staying Grounded in Fragile Times

This poetry collection will break your heart. It will also expand it for the love that grows inside as you follow the story within. Love for the mother who teaches us about grace. Love for the daughter who teaches us how to appreciate the world through the prism of autism - facets of intensity, color, and genius. We feel the "too bright light," taste the lunch that needs more salt. In Little Pockets of Glow, Melinda Coppola takes us through the profound sadness and beauty inherent in mothering an exceptional child - the humanness, the heartache, the light.

-Sue Ann Gleason, author, Pencil Man

When expectations for how life is "supposed to be" unravel after an autism diagnosis, families may find themselves in a parallel world where milestones arrive late, if at all, and visions of success are radically altered. But it's also a world brimming with "little pockets of glow," rich with love, curiosity, and magical moments. Melinda Coppola captures all of this beautifully when writing about her journey with her daughter. Her poems will comfort readers who love someone with neurological differences. Her poems will inspire anyone who has found beauty on a less conventional path toward meaning, triumph, and joy. Her poems are expertly crafted embers in which you will see, feel, and hear the glow of a hope where worlds may coalesce into one that is kind, loving, and welcoming to all.

-Dawn Leas, author, I Know When to Keep Quiet, Take Something When You Go, and A Person Worth Knowing