Monotonies of the Wildlife by William Erickson

$14.99

 

“How all of humanity’s simple joys, darkest fears, and deepest desires can unfold through a description of an isolated moment in time of a singular animal stationed at the edge of the forest or perched on a fencepost is the work of a master wordsmith, and Erickson accomplishes nothing short of this poem after poem after poem. Monotonies of the Wildlife arrives at a time in history when the need to listen to and learn from the natural world has never been more critical. To quote one of Erickson’s poems, ‘Must the change come from a certain lack of pines across the forest floor?’ I hope not.”

–Craig Buchner

 

“There is nothing—and no one—so small that they’re inconsequential. And Erickson’s poetry is teeming with tiny creatures and tiny universes with the potential to transform us if we’re willing to enter into respectful and observant relationship and dialogue with them.”

–Desiree Helleger, Ph.D. – KBOO Radio

 

“In Monotonies of the Wildlife we are led, gently yet ineluctably, into a natural world which crackles with a life we have never noticed yet instantly recognize. Erickson’s eye looks as keenly into the motions of mice as it does into the impulses of the mind. In his poems sight looks upon itself. The result is a gentle stream of language which for all its complexity remains a lucid lens upon the landscape it quickens. It takes a rare poetry which can successfully tell us “and that’s / life.” Erickson’s succeeds: life is in these poems, and to read them is to have life handed back to us transformed.”

–Danny Fitzpatrick – Author of Only the Lover Sings

 

 

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Monotonies of the Wildlife

by William Erickson

$14.99, paper

978-1-64662-677-9

2022

Monotonies of the Wildlife is a vibrant, sensitive traversal of a surreal world of the seemingly insignificant. Poem after poem it unearths layers of depth just beneath the surfaces we think we know, pressing at our notions of identity and understanding in world so much larger than the sum of its parts. Monotonies’ first section, “As if Some Were Singing”, introduces teeming environments in which the lives of even the most common beings take on new meanings in relations to ourselves. The collection’s second section, “Of a Certain Bitterness”, contemplates our situatedness, our interactions with our world at large—our way of “being” in this place. Perhaps, Erickson’s eco-poetics serve in no small way as a reminder to keep asking if maybe we are all just “leaves in autumn when the colors burn.”

William Erickson took degrees in English and digital arts from Washington State University after many years in the trades. His poetry can be found in BlazeVOX Journal, GASHER, The Adirondack Review, 34th Parallel Mag, and numerous others. He lives in the Portland area with his wife and two rescue dogs.

Following nearly two decades as a glazier in the Pacific Northwest, William Erickson’s somewhat non-traditional path into poetry is marked by a fascination with the minute and the everyday, allowing the most seemingly inconsequential things to speak whole universes through his poems. His sensitive observations of both self and space lead through unexpected turns and into places alternately surreal and familiar. Throughout his work, we are urgently reminded that as much as we occupy our spaces we are also shaped by them. William’s work has appeared in LandEscapes Journal, The Phoenix, and Sun Magazine. He is a Tupelo Press 30/30 Project alumni and manages communications for a small technology company in Washington State.

 

 

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