"Life will break you. Love anyway! People will disappoint you. Believe in them anyway." National Award-winning poet Mary Lou Kayser shares this theme in her much-anticipated new collection of poems exploring our relationship to time, love, loss, and the changing natural world. You weren't meant to travel unscathed, unscarred, fully intact. That's not how this works. Kayser's remarkable ability to take readers through the journey of a river as it makes its way to the sea offers insight into who we are in this world as it changes rapidly around us. From its headwaters to its mouth where both a triumphant ending and inspired beginning take place at once, a river -- like poetry -- has the power to heal and humble us. Tender, poignant, and self-reflective, The River Only Runs One Way encourages readers to reflect on and appreciate their own journeys, connecting the different parts of their lives for deeper meaning, self-compassion, and understanding.