Old World Wings by A.M. Hayden

"Old World Wings: Poems of Europe" is a vivid, narrative poetic adventure through European history, art, religions, and culture. From Rome's magical fountains and medieval churches, Venice's whispered canals and masquerade mysteries, France's ornate mirrors at Versailles and Notre Dame Easter service (before the fire), epic stories from Irish bards, Mozart and string quartets in Vienna, to gritty legends of Krampus in the Czech Republic, this evocative storytelling reminds us why experiencing a kaleidoscope of humanity can shake the dust off our wings and send us soaring.

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A.M. Hayden

Hayden is the current Poet Laureate for Sinclair College and Professor of Humanities, Philosophy, and World Religions (emphasis in Indigenous, Eastern, and Environmental Studies.) She has received several pedagogy awards, including the Chicago Interfaith Core Award (2018), Humanities Professor of the Year (2019) and the prestigious League for Innovation Teaching Excellence Award (2020). She has written academically for years, including for textbooks such as Eco-pedagogies: Practical Approaches to Experiential Learning.  But her passion has always been poetry. She has had over 30 poems published in anthologies, print and online journals, and literary magazines. Her debut poetry collection, American Saunter, inspired by backpacking and traveling across the dusty winding roads of the U.S., is forthcoming by FlowerSong Press in late Fall 2024.   Old World Wings, her second poetry collection inspired by her European travels, is forthcoming by Wild Ink Publishing in Summer/Fall 2025. She lives on a windy little farm with her superhero partner, fierce daughters, and many furry rescue babies including two goats, seven pigs, and an incredibly special, blind, three-legged “angel in a dog suit” Vinny Valentine.