The Earth Is Not Flat

by Katharine Coles

In 2010, poet Katharine Coles sailed across the Drake Passage to spend a month at a tiny Antarctic science station under the auspices of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. The Earth Is Not Flat, the collection of poems written out of her adventure, invokes the vast land- and seascapes as well as the fauna—penguins, seals, whales, and scientists—she encountered along the way. Addressing not only the present reality of human habitation in Antarctica but also a rich history peopled by figures like Shackleton, Scott, and Amundsen, the poems bring Coles’ much-praised intelligence, passion, and humor to bear on subjects ranging from writing a grant proposal for scientists to heavy seas to the addictive potential of joy. Along the way, she continues her passionate meditation on reality and our place in it, using as her vehicles both the natural world and the human-created worlds of art, history, and science. 

Genres: Poetry

120 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

Katharine Coles(born ) is an American poet and educator. She served from 2006-2012 as Utah's third poet laureate and currently serves as the inaugural director of the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute and the co-director of the Utah Symposium in Science and Literature.

Coles earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington. She later earned a master's degree from the University of Houston and her Ph.D from the University of Utah.

Coles received the PEN New Writer’s Award in 1992. Her 2001 poetry collection, The Golden Years of the Fourth Dimension, received the Utah Book Award. In 2012, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Gerry LaFemina]

Katie Coles is one of those rare poets who writes both with smarts and with heart--this book, which captures the geographic, psychological, emotional, and intellectual "landscapes" of Antarctica is filled with lyric poems that challenge and satisfy. She has a fine ear, a great technical eye and a delightful way with the poetic line.

[brinley]

I love Katharine Coles, but not so much the capital letters at the beginning of each line :(

The blend of science with poetry was refreshing, and it was cool to see Antarctica through her lens.

[Courtney LeBlanc]

A collection of poems set in and about Antarctica.

from Faith: "I understand the problem. You make / A metaphor to try to heal // Something. At its heart is a wound // You put there."

from Here Be Monsters: "Erosion's demand and response. Fissure // Could swallow a body whole / Then close on itself, sucking // Its tongue."

To Alice, the Beast Appears: "Say a creature glows in the dark, body / and soul afloat on a sea // so southern you have to pass through / an underworld to get // where it's never dark."

[Jessica]

These poems vacillated between lackluster and quite good; hence the four stars. I have a strong interest in ice and ice-covered places, and was really looking forward to this book, but ...

[Adam Bricker]

I received this book as part of a giveaway from Red Hen Press.

This is just a beautiful read. The imagery is vivid and thought provoking. It was easy to imagine the things she saw and what was left unwritten. I find poetry in general a harder read because it seems more open to interpretation, but this really worked for me on both levels.

Really enjoyed it.

[Jesse]

The book is superb. But she is one of the few poets I prefer to hear read her own material. Her presentation at the Natural History Museum at the University of Utah was sublime.

[Amanda]

This book is awe-inspiring and evocative. I highly recommend it.

[Kelly]

If you don't read poetry, start here. She is a master and it will set your bar very high. Her lines are exquisite and who knew Antarctica mattered so much? I do now because of Coles.

[Bob Gustafson]

This is a book about Antarctica, from the point of view of a poet.

[Laurel]

I love reading collections from the NSF Antarctic residency program because of their rare perspectives of a world most of us will never see. I appreciated the scientific details, but I did expect this book to feel a little chillier.