Oceanic

"Nezhukumatathil's poems contain elegant twists of a very sharp knife. She writes about the natural world and how we live in it, filling each poem, each page with a true sense of wonder." #8212;Roxane Gay "Cultural strands are woven into the DNA of her strange, lush... poems. Aphorisms...from another dimension." #8212;The New York Times "With unparalleled ease, she's able to weave each intriguing detail into a nuanced, thought-provoking poem that also reads like a startling modern-day fable." #8212;The Poetry Foundation "How wonderful to watch a writer who was already among the best young poets get even better!" #8212;Terrance Hayes With inquisitive flair, Aimee Nezhukumatathil creates a thorough registry of the earth's wonderful and terrible magic. In her fourth collection of poetry, she studies forms of love as diverse and abundant as the ocean itself. She brings to life a father penguin, a C-section scar, and the Niagara Falls with a powerful force of reverence for life and living things. With an encyclopedic range of subjects and unmatched sincerity, Oceanic speaks to each reader as a cooperative part of the earth, an extraordinary neighborhood to which we all belong. From "Starfish and Coffee": And that's how you feel after tumbling like sea stars on the ocean floor over each other. A night where it doesn't matter which are arms or which are legs or what radiates and how#8212; only your centers stuck together. Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of four collections of poetry. Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the prestigious Eric Hoffer Grand Prize, Nezhukumatathil teaches creative writing and environmental literature in the MFA program at the University of Mississippi In Her Fourth Collection Of Poetry, Nezhukumatathil Writes A Love Song To The Earth And Its Inhabitants. Oceanic Is Both A Title And An Ethos Of Radical Inclusion, Studying Forms Of Love As Diverse And Abundant As The Ocean Itself And Speaking To The Reader As A Cooperative Part Of The Earth, An Extraordinary Neighborhood To Which We All Belong. Self-portrait As Scallop -- When I Am Six -- On Listening To Your Teacher Take Attendance -- The Origin Of Feathers On My Windshield -- Sea Church -- Mr. Cass And The Crustaceans -- Penguin Valentine -- From The Rambutan Notebooks -- Two Moths -- In Praise Of My Manicure -- End-of-summer Haibun -- When Lucille Bogan Sings Shave 'em Dry -- The Two Times I Loved You The Most On A Farm -- Aubade With Cutlery And Crickets -- When You Select The Daughter Card -- At The Pumpkin Festival My Lips Burn Bright -- Self-portrait As Niagara Falls In Winter -- Dream Caused By The Flight Of A Bee Around A Pomegranate One Second Before Waking Up -- The Falling: Four Who Have Intentionally Plunged Over Niagara Falls With The Hope Of Surviving -- Forsythe Avenue Haibun -- Meals Of Grief & Happiness -- Invitation -- Inside The Cloud Forest Dome -- I Could Be A Whale Shark -- Love In The Time Of Swine Flu -- Self-portrait As C-section Scar -- The Cockroach Responds -- Andromache Begs Hector To Reconsider -- When I'm Away From You, I Feel Like The Second-place Winner In A Bee-wearing Contest -- In The Museum Of Glass Flowers -- Dangerous -- Travel Mommy Ghazal -- Flowers At The Taj Mahal -- While Riding An Elephant, I Think Of Unicorns -- Self-portrait As An Egg-tempera Illuminated Manuscript From 1352 -- Letter To The Northern Lights -- Perch Bones And Apple Aubade -- This Sugar -- Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth -- Psyche & Cupid: A Reimagining -- Venus Instructing Cupid To Torment Psyche -- Psyche Considers Her Last Letter From Cupid -- Upon Hearing The News You Buried Our Dog -- The Body -- The Pepper Kingdom -- One-star Reviews Of The Taj Mahal -- First Time On The Funicular -- One-star Reviews Of The Great Wall Of China -- The Pepper King Returns -- Starfish And Coffee -- Naming The Heartbeats -- Chess -- My South -- Bengal Tiger. Aimee Nezhukumatathil. In her fourth collection, Aimee Nezhukumatathil hums a bright blue notea sensuous love song to the Earth and its inhabitants. Oceanic is both a title and an ethos of radical inclusion, inviting in the grief of an elephant, the icy eyes of a scallop, the ribs / of a silver silo, and the bright flash of painted fingernails. With unmatched sincerity, Oceanic speaks to each reader as a cooperative part of the natural worldthe extraordinary neighborhood to which we all belong. This is a poet ecstatically, emphatically, naming what it means to love a world in peril. With an encyclopedic range of subjects, Nezukumatathil takes a wide-angle look at our planet, its vulnerabilities, and the human condition