The Weeping Degree

BRONZE MEDAL WINNER IN POETRY--The Wishing Shelf Awards, U.K. (2025) DISTINGUISHED FAVOURITE (2nd prize) --The Independent Press Awards, U.S. (2026) The Weeping Degree is a poetry collection readers call "powerful" and "healing." What if a wound could become a gift? What if your moment of greatest despair sent you a healing journey that would change your life forever? The Weeping Degree, a gritty collection of poetry and prose takes you on a survivor's journey from brokenness to wholeness, darkness to light; from tears to triumph and finally laughter. This brutally honest poemoir by award-winning writer, Kelly Watt, tells the herstory of a trauma, as it echoes throughout the author's life, slowly transforming through time from a wound to a gift. Along the way, Watt turns to astrology, Buddhism, and the women's movement to make sense of her tragic experiences. Divided into three sections: The Home for Little Girls, The Buddha and The Pink Futon, and Hands Across the World, this narrative travels the globe, starting in the silent shadows of foster care in a bleak Canadian suburb, and emerging into the light and sound of Sanskrit chanting in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Nepal. Winner of multiple awards-the Wishing Shelf Book Awards, and the Independent Press Award--this is a thoughtful and moving collection that reads like a love letter for the silenced and despairing. It will take you on a wild ride, to a place where poetry is an alchemical art; an exploration of the deepest self where your sorrows are transmuted through creativity to self-empowerment and joy. Take the journey. Immerse yourself in poetry that touches your heart and feeds your soul and transmute your weeping to wonder and insight.