Stranger in my Own Skin

Cody Mower

Austin Macauley

After being medically retired from the Marine Corps, Cody found himself separated from his wife and son, and struggling to deal with a brain injury which had fractured his personality and robbed him of all the things he thought he was. No longer able to stand the face in the mirror, he quickly fell down a rabbit hole of alcoholism and self-loathing, unable to forgive himself for the life he destroyed. Even though he moved to a new city and tried to start over by going to school and doing the 'right' things, he still felt like an empty shell, a ghost living in skin that didn't belong to him. It all came crashing down one summer afternoon when, suffering from a hangover, he truly saw himself in the mirror for the first time—gaunt, broken, and pathetic. Something had to change. One way or another.

EYE

Mike Bove

Spuyten Duyvil

Written during the days immediately before, during, and after a March nor’easter, the poems in EYE capture a momentary glimpse of the poet’s life in thought and observation. Each piece is a consideration of snow and solitude, mood and memory. “This intimate collection will connect to things you might be holding deep in your core and will open space for those moments to be seen anew” —Samaa Abdurraqib, PhD, editor of From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, and Indigenous Poets Write the Northeast. “EYE is a book of poems that turns the experience of being snowbound into a profound journey moving through sight to insight and song” —Betsy Sholl, author of As if a Song Could Save You.

The Heavy of Human Clouds

Robert Carr

Three: A Taos Press

Regarding Robert Carr's latest collection, poet Nickole Brown writes, "A book of thresholds and interstices, of those miss-it-if-you-blink moments, The Heavy of Human Clouds honors what most of us overlook—the fleeting but critical junctures between here then gone, the liminal crux of one minute as it disappears into the next. Reading these poems is to realize each ticking of the clock is—if only you have the curiosity and courage to truly look—an instant of grace. To be such a noticer—much less a wordsmith capable of articulating these observations—takes fortitude and intention, something that Robert Carr has in a superhuman abundance. Under his gaze, so many moments become divine ephemerals—light through a small glass of orange juice, scarabs plucked from the garden, fox skins for sale at the hardware store—and become again what they always were: worthy of attention, a matter of life and, ultimately, a matter of death."

Catching Fireflies

Jean Feldeisen &

Argy Nestor

Down East Graphics and Printing

Jean Anne Feldeisen and Argy Nestor are excited to announce the release of their joint work, Chasing Fireflies. Readers will find 20 images and poems for all ages capturing unique snapshots of the seasons: the elusive color of the Maine sky in winter, the unsullied beauty of Pemaquid Point, the quirky way Spring begins in the imagination before it really begins in Maine, and the creep of a harsh November cutting into the beauty of October. Says Jean, “Fireflies is a product of our long friendship, our love of Maine and the changing seasons here, and a desire to do something unique together. I think this book has fulfilled our dream.” Argy says, “I think the results are magical. Chasing Fireflies exemplifies collaboration– Jean and I taking turns creating and responding to each other's work.”

Grackledom

Leslie Moore

Littoral Books

Grackledom, by Leslie Moore, author of What Rough Beasts, is a charming and joyful collection of poems about birds, beasts, cats and dogs richly illustrated with over 50 color prints and pen-and-ink drawings by the author. “When you open Grackledom you enter a space where humans are not higher beings in the animal world. Through her exquisite linocuts and deft poems, Leslie Moore portrays birds, wild animals, and pets with heart and accuracy. She is a poet and artist who compels us to pay attention and act on behalf of all who share this earth, to notice an undreamed bird in a familiar landscape. This book is a treasure” – Elizabeth Tibbetts, author of Say What You Can.

Food for All Our Tomorrows: Poems on Seed, Soil, and Sustainability

Joyce Ray

Illustrated by Susan Rock

Asian Rural Institute Press

Tucked away on a hillside in Japan is a unique school, the Asian Rural Institute. It’s a green school, one committed to sustainable farming where grassroots people can learn and share ideas for building a better world. In Food for All Our Tomorrows, twenty-nine Japanese-inspired poems with watercolor illustrations invite readers into an environment where life is sustained by seeds and soil and enriched by community.