Cindy Rinne

BREATHE IN DAISY, BREATHE OUT STONES (2017) is Cindy Rinne’s third full collection of surreal poems. The poet-artist invites us into an introspective space, calling us to look outward through the lens of beauty and suffering. She explores the fragility of our words, our bodies, our lives, and our death. Whether unearthing a carved oracle bone, listening to a night messenger, or walking on stilts, the experience of this poetry is fluid and raw. Through the emotions of loss, acceptance, forgiveness, relationships, courage, destiny, and love the identities of many cultures and seasons of life are portrayed.

The twenty-eight poems in this collection stitch a tale that interlaces ancient mythology with science fiction. The story we embark upon in these pages is one that is particularly feminine.

Skillfully woven together, we encounter figures both mystical and ordinary, ranging from Native tribes and Zen practices to a futuristic self-healing robot. These poems bring together several disparate narrative threads and from them, reconcile an intricate whole.

MOON OF MANY PETALS (2018) is Cindy Rinne’s second novel in verse based in Manazanar, CA and Sendai, Japan. Over 30 full-color images of her fiber art illustrate the story. 

That day my father,
Takumi, painted deer
and plum design
with ink on kimono silk.

His hand steady,
he was determined
to practice the Yuzen
dyeing method
in America
while my mother, Mio,
embroidered in gold.

Cindy Rinne’s book, Moon of Many Petals, transports the reader to the bitter days and lonely nights of Manzanar. Her research and attention to detail serve to create mystical, yet earthy, vignettes of a family that has been torn from the sea that they love, and forced into a harsh and unforgiving captivity that never fully sets them free. I will share this powerful book with my students, and read it over and over again for myself. – Diane Adams, author of Love Is 

Cindy Rinne creates art and writes in San Bernardino, CA. She brings myth to life in contemporary context. Cindy is the author of Moon of Many Petals (Cholla Needles Press), Listen to the Codex (Yak Press), Breathe In Daisy, Breathe Out Stones (FutureCycle Press), Quiet Lantern (Turning Point), spider with wings (Jamii Publishing), and she co-authored Speaking Through Sediment with Michael Cooper (ELJ Publications). Cindy is a founding member of PoetrIE, an Inland Empire based literary community and a finalist for the 2016 Hillary Gravendyk Prize poetry book competition. Her poems appeared or are forthcoming in: Birds Piled Loosely, CircleShow, Home Planet News, Outlook Springs, The Wild Word (Berlin), Storyscape Journal, Cholla Needles, and others. www.fiberverse.com