A Field of Fire & Flowers

What happens when you survive-but the life you knew does not?
In 2021, psychiatrist and artist Michelle Field entered septic shock following hysterectomy. She was placed in a medically induced coma for weeks, experienced multi-organ failure, and her heart stopped three times. When she awoke, survival was only the beginning. What followed were years of physical recovery, spiritual disorientation, loss of identity, and the long, uncertain journey back to herself.
A Field of Fire & Flowers is the poetic chronicle of that journey.
Turning to creative expression as a lifeline, Field found a way to give language to what trauma leaves behind-the unspoken grief, the fragile return of hope, the tension between fear and courage, and the search for meaning in the space between life and death. These raw and luminous poems were born through transformative expressive writing and are accompanied by her original paintings and collages, creating a deeply intimate landscape of healing.
The title reflects the paradox at the heart of survival: that devastation and beauty can exist in the same breath, and that from what has burned, new life can emerge.
This collection is for:
survivors of illness, medical trauma, and near-death experiences
readers navigating grief, loss, or spiritual crisis
clinicians and caregivers seeking the patient's inner perspective
anyone longing for hope, connection, and the courage to begin again
A Field of Fire & Flowers is not simply a poetry collection-it is a testament to the human spirit's capacity to break, transform, and bloom.
Even in the fiercest fire, a field of flowers is waiting.