Elizabeth Joy Levinson

“Levinson’s Uncomfortable Ecologies explores the twilight between environments and between people, the places where we encounter one another and the inhabitants of the world around us. The collection dives deep into what these encounters mean and how they have the power to reverberate through us long after they end. Levinson pulls us into a bright menagerie of birds, mammals, and people, all hearts that only let us love them from a distance. Tightly bound by theme, imagery, and narrative, this is a beautiful book, a standout collection from a poet who knows her craft intimately.“

–Darci Schummer, author of Six Months in the Midwest and The Ballad of Two Sisters (Unsolicited Press)

“Insects, jellyfish, wild horses, hurricanes. Shark teeth and coyotes. Sisters who wait tables. Men who go to sea then come home to dance our mothers in the family kitchen. These are some of the living, breathing ties that keep a body tethered to place. This collection teems with a longing for connection to the natural world. It asks, “How does a person come to belong?” and it answers again and again that if connection is indeed possible, it is only in moments where we recognize ourselves in what’s considered other, that the moments are fleeting as silverfish across a bare floor. Are we comfortable with discomfort? Can we look in the mirror? When the long-tailed weasel shows us its prey, do we dare keep our eyes open?” 

–L.I. Henley, Starshine Road (Perugia Press)