An adventure story in two realms, a conversation between the visible and invisible worlds: in this eloquent memoir, Tina Tau reveals the life-saving intelligence of her dreams.
". . . Ask for something so alive, so surprising, that it will crack your life wide open."
An adventure story in two realms, a conversation between the visible and invisible worlds; in this eloquent memoir, Tina Tau reveals the life-saving intelligence of her dreams. As a young woman she tries to outrun her pain by moving every year, often thousands of miles at a time. But by paying attention to her dreams, she is finally able to slow down, heal, and begin to shine. Her story is a guide to the daily practice of saying yes to your own life's innate wisdom.
Tina Tau is the author of four books of poetry, including The Golden Tree. She is a bookbinder, teacher, dreamworker, mother, and artist. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
"Tina Tau's memoir shows us how to turn mess into magic. She tells her transformative tale with an incandescent blend of humility and healing, wildness and wonder. Her dedication to dreams, paradoxically, is what renders the reader wide awake. I've always wanted my own life to feel like that, and now I know for certain it can." - Raphael Cushnir
"Ask for Horses is an initiation into the alchemies of wonder. As we accompany this speaker on her epic, dream-guided journey of discovery, her dance with destiny becomes our own. We enter a chorus of deep wisdom. We are illuminated by poetic grace. We are awakened by awe. We are called home to our own deep soul knowing. Reading this book, you will . . . rediscover dreaming as a path of personal power and healing. And as you follow Tina Tau's astonishment into the great wilderness of human experience, you will inherit your belonging to this world." - Sage Cohen
"When you enter this book, prepare to grow luminous, to travel in company with someone offering 'jewels of information' about electric connections between dreams and actions. Prepare to recognize how the liquid bounty of the inner life may offer guidance for the thirsty tangle of the outer life. This writer is someone who can stand astonished in the presence of both illumination and trouble, someone who can be 'happy as an apple tree in bloom' and also 'translucent with weariness.' This is a memoir like no other. You have been preparing to read it all your life." - Kim Stafford
"Isn't the mind amazing? Where anything is possible? Asks author Tina Tau in her masterful dream-inspired memoir Ask for Horses – a powerfully evocative self-portrait in which the matrix of Tau's seemingly disorderly, albeit extraordinary life is gradually rendered meaningful by the eternal, precious, and ephemeral immensity of spirit presented by her dreaming life. Tugged by the sheer enchantment of dreams, Tau's prose is poetic and her poems are lyrical. This captivating book will make readers feel that they can live a different life if only they pay attention to dreams, the inherent unruliness of the soul, the natural wildness of the heart, and the unpredictable trajectory of the spirit." - Victoria Rabinowe
