Defying Gravity: Kim Farrar’s New Poetry Collection Reveals Joy in the Midst of Loss

Unsolicited Press is thrilled to announce the release of The Impossible Physics of the Hummingbird by Kim Farrar, a poetry collection that proves the impossible happens every day.

Just as a hummingbird’s tiny wings defy nature’s logic, Farrar’s poems explore how humans defy gravity in their own lives: finding laughter, love, and resilience in the midst of grief, illness, disability, and hardship.

The collection bears witness to the deaths of a beloved brother and father, the struggles of an autistic daughter, and the poet’s own cancer diagnosis. Yet, woven through these profound sorrows is an “understory of love,” as poet Jim Moore observes—showing how grief itself can carve a path toward joy and meaning.

Praise for The Impossible Physics of the Hummingbird

“Farrar treats the loss of a brother and father, the decline of a mother, a daughter’s autism, and undergoing cancer treatment with an inspiring level of acceptance… leaving this reader with a renewed sense of how to grieve, live and love well.” —April Ossmann, author of We

With a voice both fierce and tender, Farrar charts what it means to be human: our capacity to endure, to laugh in the dark, to “moonwalk while empires crumble.” These poems do not shy away from suffering, but instead illuminate the astonishing ways sorrow clears space for grace.

About the Author
Kim Farrar is a poet and collage artist whose work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, Salamander, Rhino, New Ohio Review, and other literary journals. She is the author of two chapbooks (The Familiar and The Brief Clear) and has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes. Her work explores themes of illness, resilience, and the natural world. Learn more at poetrysite.blog.