Publisher's Synopsis
Poetry. The 'psalm-poets' of the Reformation wanted to bring ethereal ideas down to earth. 'Thou, once a body, now but air/ Arch botcher of a psalm or prayer/ From Carfax come/ And patch us up a zealous lay, ' penned the 18th century psalm-poet Robin Wisdom. 21st century psalm-poet Jen Coleman is involved in her own reformation of psalms as proceeding from the ground up. She details how 'The dirt holds eight immutable truths' while acknowledging that she can list but six of them--and they don't present themselves in numerical order! While it is a mystery that Robin Wisdom predicted the existence of Carfax (insert emoticon of choice), it is no secret that Jen Coleman has reclaimed the psalm for those of us who still puzzle over the sixty-four- thousand-dollar question of what life is all about.--Tina Darragh
Apocalyptic, raw, and galloping, Jennifer Coleman's poems are built to unsettle. This is a book that begins with the corporeal and ends with the collapse. Its restlessness is visceral; it's a trip not to be missed.--Lisa Jarnot
Unwilling to share secrets that must be told, Jen Coleman's poems whisper to each other their wisdoms. Our role is a better kind of listening; more like taking action than what we have been taught. 'A serious census of the fishes.' I was not prepared to need this book the way I do.--Buck Downs
I just want to make a list of all the small animals in this book. The krill, the worms, the insects, the bees and their honeys. And also the rivers and the cities. All the ways they mix and meld. The way this book lets a rat be a short-eared bunny and a lingcod be the 15 million unemployed. The way this book also asks, 'what does it matter, the ocean?' And then explains it, fully, beautifully through psalms that celebrate what remains of the at risk ecosystem.--Juliana Spahr
