The speakers in Rituals for to Call Down Light struggle for belonging amid warring impulses to embrace or escape their "place" in the world and wrestle with their Appalachian heritage and its associated trappings of religion, isolation, poverty, love, loss, and complex beauty. Warren's collection, divided into five "ritual" sections, explores the tensions between self, place, past, and desire. Despite being focused on an Appalachian identity and voice, the poems in this collection highlight the struggle each of us face when it comes to our personal experiences with belonging, identity, community, and heritage.