"Hands-down one of the most beautiful books of the year." --NPR
From beloved, award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfiction--a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us.
With an encyclopedic range of subjects, Nezukumatathil takes a wide-angle look at our planet, its vulnerabilities, and the human condition.
From Publishers Weekly: Nezhukumatathil's fourth book is fascinated with the small mechanisms of being, whether natural, personal, or imagined. Everything from eating eels in the Ozark mountains to the history of red dye finds a rich life in her poems.
Finalist for the 2021 Housatonic Book Award in Poetry
A 2022 Washington State Book Award finalist
Environmental collapse. The betrayals and alliances of the animal world. A father who works in a timber mill. The celebrities in our feeds, the stories we tell ourselves. Loss, never-ending loss. Self-Portrait with Cephalopod--selected by francine j.
Finalist for the 2022 Minnesota Book Award in Poetry
A New York Times Book Review "New & Noteworthy Poetry" Selection
A Library Journal "Poetry Title to Watch 2021"
A Chicago Review of Books "Poetry Collection to Read in 2021"
A Reader's Digest "14 Amazing Black Poets to Know About Now" Selection