UNCOMFORTABLE ECOLOGIES
Insects, jellyfish, wild horses, hurricanes. Shark teeth and coyotes. Sisters who wait tables. Men who go to sea then come home to dance with our mothers in the family kitchen. These are some of the living, breathing ties that keep a body tethered to place. This collection teems with a longing for connection to the natural world. It asks, “How does a person come to belong?” and it answers again and again that if connection is indeed possible, it is only in moments where we recognize ourselves in what’s considered other, that the moments are fleeting as silverfish across a bare floor. Are we comfortable with discomfort? Can we look in the mirror? When the long-tailed weasel shows us its prey, do we dare keep our eyes open?—L.L. Henley, Starshine Road (Perugia Press)
Poetry
ISBN: 978-1-956692-60-0
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Insects, jellyfish, wild horses, hurricanes. Shark teeth and coyotes. Sisters who wait tables. Men who go to sea then come home to dance with our mothers in the family kitchen. These are some of the living, breathing ties that keep a body tethered to place. This collection teems with a longing for connection to the natural world. It asks, “How does a person come to belong?” and it answers again and again that if connection is indeed possible, it is only in moments where we recognize ourselves in what’s considered other, that the moments are fleeting as silverfish across a bare floor. Are we comfortable with discomfort? Can we look in the mirror? When the long-tailed weasel shows us its prey, do we dare keep our eyes open?—L.L. Henley, Starshine Road (Perugia Press)
Poetry
ISBN: 978-1-956692-60-0
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Insects, jellyfish, wild horses, hurricanes. Shark teeth and coyotes. Sisters who wait tables. Men who go to sea then come home to dance with our mothers in the family kitchen. These are some of the living, breathing ties that keep a body tethered to place. This collection teems with a longing for connection to the natural world. It asks, “How does a person come to belong?” and it answers again and again that if connection is indeed possible, it is only in moments where we recognize ourselves in what’s considered other, that the moments are fleeting as silverfish across a bare floor. Are we comfortable with discomfort? Can we look in the mirror? When the long-tailed weasel shows us its prey, do we dare keep our eyes open?—L.L. Henley, Starshine Road (Perugia Press)
Poetry
ISBN: 978-1-956692-60-0
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Praise for UNCOMFORTABLE ECOLOGIES
Insects, jellyfish, wild horses, hurricanes. Shark teeth and coyotes. Sisters who wait tables. Men who go to sea then come home to dance with our mothers in the family kitchen. These are some of the living, breathing ties that keep a body tethered to place. This collection teems with a longing for connection to the natural world. It asks, “How does a person come to belong?” and it answers again and again that if connection is indeed possible, it is only in moments where we recognize ourselves in what’s considered other, that the moments are fleeting as silverfish across a bare floor. Are we comfortable with discomfort? Can we look in the mirror? When the long-tailed weasel shows us its prey, do we dare keep our eyes open?
—L.I. Henley, Starshine Road (Perugia Press)
Elizabeth Joy Levinson’s UNCOMFORTABLE ECOLOGIES is a must read—especially for those of us who feel disengaged from nature, lost, and yes, at times even a bit broken. She weaves the heartbeat of nature into every poem and submerges readers into the natural world. ‘Broken Water’ reminds us how “…the changes in the water / were predictable. / I was not” and ‘Subnivean' concludes “Hold this small velvet against your cheek / which softness does the world need, / which softness do we not?”
Maybe it was Jericho Brown’s moving keynote at AWP, maybe it was my fond memories of E.E. Cummings from my college days, and maybe it was just me, wanting to take my writing to another, deeper level, but I was determined to unearth a book of poetry that would re-inspire me. I found it within the pages of UNCOMFORTABLE ECOLOGIES.
—Pete Schreiner
Levinson’s Uncomfortable Ecologies explores the twilight between environments and between people, the places where we encounter one another and the inhabitants of the world around us. The collection dives deep into what these encounters mean and how they have the power to reverberate through us long after they end. Levinson pulls us into a bright menagerie of birds, mammals, and people, all hearts that only let us love them from a distance. Tightly bound by theme, imagery, and narrative, this is a beautiful book, a standout collection from a poet who knows her craft intimately.
—Darci Schummer
Playlist for UNCOMFORTABLE ECOLOGIES
About Elizabeth Joy Levinson
Elizabeth Joy Levinson is a high school teacher in Chicago, where she lives with her husband & pets. She has an MFA from Pacific University and an MAT in Biology from Miami University. She is the author of two chapbooks, As Wild Animals (Dancing Girl Press) and Running Aground (Finishing Line Press) and has had work published in many independent journals.
