Michele Heeney Invites Readers on a Lyrical Voyage Through Memory, Nature, and the Human Spirit in “Take Any Ship That Sails”

Some journeys begin with a destination. Others begin with a question, a memory, a distant horizon, or the quiet pull of something waiting to be discovered.

In “Take Any Ship That Sails,” author and poet Michele Heeney invites readers to embark on an intimate literary voyage spanning more than four decades of observation, experience, movement, and reflection. Written across 45 years, the collection brings together poetry inspired by travel, medicine, nature, relationships, art, spirituality, and the mysterious inner landscapes that shape a human life.

Like a ship moving slowly across the horizon at dawn, Heeney’s poetry carries readers through changing environments and seasons of the self. From the Pennsylvania countryside to the creative energy of 1960s San Francisco, from the dramatic coastline of Marin County and Big Sur to desert mesas, tropical shores, West Africa, Mexico, and places of quiet solitude, the poems move across both physical and emotional terrain.

Yet “Take Any Ship That Sails” is not simply a record of destinations.

It is a book about what happens within us while we are moving.

Through elegant, contemplative language, Heeney explores the memories people carry, the choices that shape them, and the moments that continue to echo long after they have passed. Her poems examine time, freedom, passion, love, beauty, loss, service, aging, creativity, spirituality, and the enduring human desire to understand one’s place in the world.

The result is a collection that feels at once expansive and deeply personal.

Readers may encounter the stillness of moonlight over water, the untamed energy of horses running through golden dust, the wind passing through dry grass and juniper trees, the hush of a hospital hallway, or the private ritual of a poet writing beside a rain-covered window. These images are not presented merely as scenery. They become emotional doorways, opening into questions about identity, purpose, memory, and connection.

Heeney’s years of work in obstetrics and gynecology also inform the collection’s awareness of human vulnerability, care, transition, and resilience. Her medical experiences placed her close to some of life’s most intimate and transformative moments, giving her a profound perspective on birth, change, uncertainty, strength, and the many ways people carry hope.

That world of service exists alongside another essential part of the poet’s life: solitude.

In “Take Any Ship That Sails,” the outward-facing work of caring for others meets the inward work of listening. The poems suggest that solitude is not emptiness, but a space where memory can speak, where nature can be heard, and where the self can begin to recognize what has been waiting beneath the noise of everyday life.

“Poetry becomes a way of listening” is one of the ideas at the heart of the collection.

Heeney listens to the landscapes she has crossed, the people she has known, the cultures she has encountered, and the changing voice within herself. Her work reflects a life shaped by movement, yet it repeatedly returns to stillness: a page, a window, a night sky, an open road, or a small light glowing in darkness.

The highlighted poem “Calling” captures the collection’s sense of invitation and discovery through the haunting phrase:

“Over here… come find me.”

The words suggest something distant but familiar - a forgotten memory, an undiscovered truth, a spiritual presence, or perhaps a hidden part of the self. It is this sense of searching that gives the collection much of its emotional power.

Rather than offering simple answers, Heeney’s poetry encourages readers to remain curious. Her poems invite them to notice what is often overlooked: the movement of clouds, the texture of an old photograph, the silence between conversations, the meaning held in a landscape, or the unexpected return of a memory thought to be lost.

The title, “Take Any Ship That Sails,” becomes both an invitation and a philosophy.

It suggests courage, openness, and the willingness to enter the unknown. The ship may represent travel, artistic expression, personal transformation, or the passage of time itself. Whatever form it takes, the journey asks readers to leave the safety of the familiar and trust what may be waiting beyond the horizon.

This is a collection for travelers, dreamers, artists, seekers, nature lovers, and anyone who has ever looked back on a life and wondered how its scattered moments became a story.

It will resonate with readers who appreciate poetry that is visual, reflective, spiritually curious, and grounded in lived experience. Heeney’s words offer space to pause and remember, while also encouraging readers to continue moving toward wonder, possibility, and deeper self-understanding.

With its blend of memoir, poetic imagery, cultural exploration, and quiet spiritual reflection, “Take Any Ship That Sails” reminds readers that a life is not defined by one place, one profession, one relationship, or one chapter. It is shaped by every road followed, every shoreline crossed, every person encountered, and every moment when the heart was brave enough to listen.

Michele Heeney’s collection does not ask readers simply to observe her journey.

It asks them to recognize their own.

About the Book:
“Take Any Ship That Sails” is a poetry collection by Michele Heeney featuring work written across 45 years of life, travel, reflection, service, and personal change. Moving through themes of time, art, nature, love, freedom, memory, passion, culture, spirituality, and the inner self, the collection presents poetry as both a record of experience and a way of listening more deeply to the world.

Availability:
“Take Any Ship That Sails” is available through Michele Heeney’s official website. To learn more about the book and the author, visit MicheleHeeney.com Take the journey.

Follow the horizon. Listen for the calling. And take any ship that sails.

Contact Information

April Andrews

FulFillment Officer

The Ewings Publishing

Contact via E-mail