PORT TOWNSEND — In her new book, All the Birds Awake, poet Gayle Kaune takes readers on a wild ride.

Simply put, Kaune’s poems travel — into and through the joys and terrors of being alive.

So promises Tebot Bach, Kaune’s publisher, in the invitation to this Friday night’s event, in which the author will read poems from Awake.

Admission is free to the reading at 7 p.m. at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave.

Awake also travels widely in the literal sense: It starts at the Hanford nuclear waste dump beside the Columbia River in Eastern Washington and forges on to Cambodia, Michigan, Rio de Janeiro and Las Vegas.

Kaune retired from her career as a psychotherapist and moved to Port Townsend seven years back.

She started writing more than 25 years ago at the Centrum Writers’ Conference at Fort Worden State Park, while still living in the Hanford area.

Over the years, she kept returning to study with some of the country’s most renowned poets: William Stafford, Marvin Bell, Richard Kenney, Pattiann Rogers, Quincey Troupe, Peggy Shumaker.

Now her fellow poets are praising Awake.

“Thirty years of marriage — surprises, sorrows, delights. These vivid poems show us ways to live and ways to face the end of living,” Shumaker wrote.

“All the Birds Awake is a book every pilgrim on the road to a better understanding of their humanity should carry in their pack,” Gary Lemons added.

“Kaune has done something special,” Richard Widerkehr noted, in “writing a book that appeals both to poetry lovers and a wider audience.”

The 95-page All the Birds Awake is available for $15 at TebotBach.org, while Kaune is available for readings and workshops at gkaune@yahoo.com.

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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.