The Mother of All Words
A new collection of poetry from Kelly D. Belmonte.
“Kelly Belmonte has a gift for choosing precisely the right word or turn of phrase to evoke the beauties, sorrows, and surprises of everyday life. The elegant simplicity of these poems gently invites the reader to pay attention, and then rewards that attention with images that linger in the mind, encouraging a pause for reflection: an experience of great value in these distracted and hurried times.”
Holly Ordway
Author, Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography
“With the raw simplicity of Robert Frost and the poignancy of Mary Oliver, Kelly Belmonte has achieved something rare and beautiful: tiny hymns praising the significance of the ordinary. Like pebbles that create widening circles in a pond, The Mother of All Words echoes with timeless wisdom, disturbs and interrogates the surface of daily life, and deeply nourishes us.”
Dr. Crystal Hurd
Author, The Leadership of C.S. Lewis: Ten Traits to Encourage Change and Growth
“Belmonte looks for those moments in life—those breaths or gaps (as she says)—that others may have passed by or missed entirely. She pauses there to worship, to ruminate, and to treasure all she’s gleaned. After all, in her own words: ‘Poetry is not truth, but the last gasp of revelation after hearing the truest word.’”
Nancy Tupper Ling
Children’s Author and Poet
About the Author
A native upstate New Yorker, Kelly Belmonte set down roots in New England after graduating with a BA in English Literature from Gordon College. Her poetic influences are eclectic and have included Kobayashi Issa, R.M. Rilke, Mary Oliver, and Frank X. Gaspar. Her work has been published in Altar Work, Atlas Poetica, Barren Magazine, Relief Journal, The Literary Nest, Open: Journal of Arts & Literature, and Ruminate. Her contributions have also been included in The Word in the Wilderness (2014) and Love, Remember (2017), both anthologies edited by the British poet Malcolm Guite; and Women and C.S. Lewis (2015), a collection of interviews and essays on the theme of Lewis and the women in his life and writings. Kelly’s prior poetry collections include: Three Ways of Searching (2013); Spare Buttons (2014); and Transit (2022), an artistic collaboration with photographer Tom Darin Liskey. She resides on the rocky coast of Maine with her husband Kevin, son Samuel, and assorted rescue pets.
