To Walk the North Direction by C.L. Downing is a narrative of a life fully lived, stories of deepening self-awareness and empathy toward the world with a voice free of artifice or self-pity. Downing's writing blooms with energy, wit, and honesty. Through each poem, her integrity as a creator is obvious. With a style all her own, she grants her subjects full reveal without sentimentality, but always through her kind heart which is why she can be trusted. Readers will feel their own life experience expand in Downing's recounting of her time spent paying concentrated attention to the world.
-Caroline Boutard, author Each Leaf Singing