Just North of Ordinary Tides

What lives just beyond the expected… just past the shoreline of ordinary life?

In this deeply personal and vividly rendered collection, Eleanor Cade Busby invites readers into a world shaped by memory, love, loss, justice, and the wild, untamable spirit of Maine. From the wonder of childhood to the ache of grief, from quiet moments by the river to fierce calls for change, these poems move like tides, sometimes gentle, sometimes crashing, always pulling us somewhere true.

Here you will find:

• The innocence of a three-year-old who refuses “common sense”
• The echo of first love and the ghosts it leaves behind
• The raw reality of addiction, injustice, and survival
• The steadfast beauty of rivers, woods, and salt air
• A voice that refuses silence in the face of history and harm

Rooted in place yet universal in reach, Just North of Ordinary Tides is a collection that honors what it means to be fully human, to remember, to feel, to fight, and to hope.

These poems do not sit quietly on the page.
They breathe. They bear witness. They call you closer.

Come stand at the water’s edge.
Listen.
The tide is turning.