“The day I was adopted, everyone cheered.
They called me lucky, celebrating that I’d been chosen.
Like a repotted flower,
I reached toward love.
No one saw my roots stripped bare.
About The Book
Bloom Anyway challenges the quiet myths of adoption: the stories told too simply, and the truths too often left unspoken.
Through poems that are raw, honest, and deeply personal, Renée Kato explores the complexities of transracial adoption: the ache of roots severed, the quiet grief few know how to hold, and the lifelong search for belonging where love and loss exist side by side.
Rooted in lived experience, this collection invites readers beyond familiar narratives of gratitude and rescue to encounter adoption as it is—layered, nuanced, and often misunderstood.
Whether you are an adoptee, a birth parent, an adoptive family member, or someone seeking to better understand the adoptee experience, Bloom Anyway is an invitation to listen with compassion and hold space for stories that are too often left untold.