Missing Orion

poems by Barbara Bloom

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The poems in Missing Orion express a deep reverence for the natural world, whether it is the night skies of the Sierras, the towering conifers of the Pacific Northwest, or roses gathered at the edge of a building site. They describe a childhood spent in California and on a homestead in the wilds of Canada. With clarity, compassion, and wisdom, they explore the complexities of a long, happy marriage and celebrate love, family, and friendship. A quiet, powerful, and luminous collection.

POETRY / General

ISBN: 978-1-962082-87-7 (print; softcover; perfect bound)

Released October 21, 2025 | Copyright 2025

136 pages

Author Biography

Barbara Bloom is the author of two previous collections: On the Water Meridian (2007), a finalist for the Northern California Book Award; and Pulling Down the Heavens (2017), both from Hummingbird Press. Bloom is a four-time winner of the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest in Bellingham, and her poems have been featured on the radio on The Writer’s Almanac. Her work has appeared most recently in Catamaran, Adventures Northwest, and Western Washington Poets Network Anthology.

Bloom grew up in California, but when she was a teenager, she and her family moved to a remote coastal homestead in British Columbia, where their survival depended on learning to operate a boat, fish, hunt, and grow their own food. Though she returned to California to finish her education, this experience of living so close to nature was profound and continues to inspire both her work and her life. Bloom earned an M.A. in English and creative writing from San Francisco State University and taught composition and creative writing at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, California, for over thirty years. She has a grown daughter and two grandsons and lives with her husband in Bellingham, Washington, where she teaches writing workshops through Whatcom Community and Continuing Education.

photo: Kelly Carbert

Endorsements

“Barbara Bloom’s Missing Orion offers us many deftly-captured moments set in nature. Growing up on a remote homestead in British Columbia, Bloom is a bit like her resilient mother who kept a journal in which much is ‘hidden as a deer / in mottled light.’ In the title poem, Bloom recalls the ‘open sky’ of childhood, where she would look up at night and find her friend Orion, ‘mighty hunter / with his belt of shining stars.’ Hard truths about family and love are faced in these poems, but the spirit of the book is a bright one.”
—Richard Widerkehr, author of Missing the Owl and Night Journey

“I’ve loved Barbara Bloom’s work for many years and so am delighted to see her latest book of life-enhancing and luminous poems. In language that is clear, lyrical, and accessible, she enchants the reader with her quiet wisdom. Bloom’s special gift is to connect us to the beauty of the natural world, whether she’s celebrating the smell of bull kelp, the thunk of a log as it drops into a battered wood box, the hiss of whales breathing, or even the homely sound of a weed whacker in a field. This is a book that is an antidote to cynicism and will leave the reader feeling as if they’ve just had a deep and intimate conversation with a wise friend who hasn’t forgotten how to be astonished by the world.”
—Ellery Akers, author of A Door Into the Wild: Poetry and Art and Swerve

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