PHOTO COURTESY OF AMBER CANNON Marshalltown author Amber Cannon with her second book “Weathered in Wildflowers” which features a collection of illustrated short stories and poems.

Twice is just as nice for local author Amber Cannon, who recently published her second volume of poetry and short stories titled “Weathered in Wildflowers.”

A minor departure from her first collection of poems, “Through Clouds and Sunshine,” Cannon’s second literary anthology features a wide breadth of genres and tackles complex emotions about the intangible aspects of humanity.

“The poetry showcases the human experience, like all the emotions we may feel, and how we may navigate them. Because we all long for connection and being able to relate to each other, and I wanted to provide a space to connect,” Cannon said. “With my short stories, I wanted to do something a little bit more. There are different genres, they’re not all about kind of like one thing… but I wanted to show the progression from doing poetry to storytelling and give the reader a little bit more.”

As Cannon says, “Weathered in Wildflowers” encompasses written work that is more updated and current compared to her previous release.

“The first book was a compilation of a lot of my work from the very beginning of my writing, all the way up until I published it,” she said. “The second one is all done within just a year. So it’s all very new writing, and, in my opinion, it’s more mature writing compared to some of the poems in my first book that were from 20 years ago.”

A transplant from Pennsylvania who came to the area during her adolescence, Cannon has always been interested in creative writing, but it was poetry in particular where she first found her voice.

“I fell in love with poetry. I really enjoyed it,” she said. “I realized that it was kind of a way for me to harness the way that I felt, and I was able to then put my feelings into words.”

With a distinct fondness for nature and the natural world, the book’s title and some its content take inspiration from Cannon’s own experiences after being diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in 2020 and her resulting response to the mental illness.

“I’ve been on a journey,” Cannon said. “So I’ve been trying to kind of navigate my mental health. A lot of my ways of providing myself therapy is going out in nature and walking, going out to Grimes Farm, or Green Castle… It’s a way to describe myself. It’s a way to say, I’m weathered, because you know, I have problems, but this is my therapy, this is my way of dealing with it.”

Still, Cannon says now having her own set of books evokes an “unexplainable feeling” for the fledgling writer.

“Whenever you first get that box in the mail, and you open it up, and you see it and you’re like, ‘Wow, I made that.'” she said. “I mean, the whole premise of it was just to get my work out there… It’s still very much a pinch me kind of moment.”

With the book also including stories illustrated by her husband, Troy, Cannon says she could not have imagined a more harmonious tandem to accentuate her work.

“It’s been really awesome to be able to work with him,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to let him have that freedom to express himself with it, and also help me out by putting words into an image. There’s so many good illustrations in this book, too. The illustrations even are a step up from the last one.”

While Cannon daylights as an Iowa Veterans Home housekeeper, she said a highlight of her work has been showing that accomplishing one’s dreams are possible regardless of their station in life.

“I am a housekeeper… While that’s not the most glamorous job in the world… That doesn’t mean that I don’t have something meaningful to say, and stories to tell,” Cannon said. “I wanted to show that no matter what your job title is, you can achieve your goals. If you want it enough, and you want to do something, you can do it no matter what your nine to five (is).”

Both of Cannon’s works, “Weathered in Wildflowers” and “Through Clouds and Sunshine” can be found online on Amazon.com and on the Barnes and Nobles website: www.barnesandnoble.com.

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Contact Nick Baur at 641-753-6611 or

nbaur@timesrepublican.com.