Cosmic Pockets


Catalog / Thursday, October 29th, 2020

poetry and photography for sci-fi loving skeptical mystics, mothers, feminists, all


What if Mary wasn’t really a virgin? Could Jesus be an alien from another planet? How do we know we’re not all living inside of God? Poet and photographer Joann Renee Boswell invites us to travel with her into an encounter with the inconvenient complexities of earth-life and outer space, politics and religion, Bigfoot, feminism, Santa Claus, and spirituality – all tucked inside the Cosmic Pockets of life. Simultaneously whimsical and serious, Cosmic Pockets traces Joann’s personal journey out of evangelical Christianity and into an evolving understanding of faith – what if the universe is out to help us? Into motherhood – do my children exist when I’m not there? And into love – do I have a superpower? Unflinchingly honest and delightfully conflicted, the dense narrative of Cosmic Pockets will complicate your understanding of what the world is and gift you with narrow glimpses of what might be.


Joann Renee Boswell is a teacher, theater director, mother, photographer, and poet. She lives in Camas, Washington, with her partner and three children. Joann graduated with a Choose Your Own Adventure B.A., featuring music, theater, and writing/literature. Later she became a master at teaching (ask her former students!). Joann loves rainy days filled with coffee, books, handholding, moody music, and sci-fi shows. While her poetry has appeared in a dozen journals, this is her first book.


The thrilling manifesto of a goddess aflame —Christopher Luna

Scratches at the veneer of what it is to be a woman in America —Claudia F. Savage

Radical anthems of liberation sprouted from a life well-noticed —Seth Martin

Evokes Hollie McNish, Douglas Adams, and Anne Lamott in unrestrained examinations of existence —Elisabeth Mehl Greene

This book is a treasure —Bethany Lee

Destined to find its place in the universe —Toni Lumbrazo Luna

A deep and wild dive —Peg Edera

An antidote to a threatened world —Melanie Mock