Bone Willows

by James Engelhardt

In the Alaska-based poems of Bone Willows , the wheel of the year spins faster than in the Lower “Arctic spring bicycles down a bookcase.” And the frantic course of time affects everything from non-human nature to the ways a couple with a small child make their way in the world. Here, animals “glow with no light,” friends remind each other that “it will break again, the push will come and it will all break again,” and home is “a secret held against hard dark.” In this debut collection, James Engelhardt gives readers the hidden Alaska―not of glaciers and brown bears and tourist stops―but of expressways and families and dinner parties.

112 pages, Paperback

Published May 22, 2018

Reviews

[Kersten Christianson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wild slice of Alaska: Chipped starlight, long shadows, moose, the human condition.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of poetry, set in Alaska, is full of gorgeous descriptions of extreme landscapes and the daily rituals of some of its inhabitants. It's engaging for both seasoned poetry readers and those newer to poetry.