Burning Sage by Meghan Fandrich

A passionate personal account of the loss of a community,Burning Sageis a deeply touching, poignant and timely debut.

On the day that Lytton, BC burned to the ground, Meghan Fandrich ran from the flames. She saw the village turn into a black pillar of smoke, and went home after a month-long evacuation to its ashes. Her house, on the edge of the fire, was saved; her community and her small business were not. Life as she knew it was gone, and somehow, in spite of the trauma and the ongoing onslaught of natural disasters, she had to keep going. Living. Surviving.

Burning Sageshares Meghan's deeply personal story of the fire, the ensuing trauma, and the path out of it. But it is also a human story, a universal story, of loneliness, fragility and beauty. The poems follow the arc of shock, fear, and anger, and the impossibility of single parenting in a burned-up town. They tell of a connection, a love, and the way that feeling understood can help us understand ourselves. The poems inBurning Sageshare a vivid portrait of grief and heartbreak and, ultimately, of healing. (From Caitlin Press)

Meghan Fandrich is a poet and previously ran the Klowa Art Caf, which was unfortunately lost to the Lytton wildfire in 2021. She continues to live on the edge of Lytton, B.C. with her family. Burning Sage is her debut poetry collection.