Church of the Dandelions

Ours is a church that keeps no scriptures,

Brewing pots of bitter tea

Examinging bitterness

Learning to love it.

In The Church of the Dandelions, Daniel A. Ortega invites readers into a lush, visceral world where the sacred and the everyday collide. With poems that journey from the ripening of mulberries in urban sprawl to the memory of cast iron passed down through generations, Ortega’s language is grounded in nature and heritage. These poems are at once raw and tender, capturing the ache of memory, the reverence for small moments, and the ever-present pulse of life in all its beauty and decay. The Church of the Dandelions speaks to the cycles of loss and renewal, inviting us to slow down, to notice, and to feel the weight and wonder of being alive.