Small Life by Karol Nielsen

In Small Life, Karol Nielsen shares precise little snapshots of New York streetscapes and the people she meets there, always wondering if she truly belongs. The homeless, the street vendors, dog walkers, and more are each presented with compassion and just the right details, in all their unique humanity.

Not till quarantine in a leafy Connecticut suburb does the author note that hers is a “small life.” Her readers realize that despite any accident of birth, Nielsen is a New Yorker. She relishes life there in the before times, and looks forward to after.

–Katherine Flannery Dering, author of the memoir Shot in the Head, A Sister’s Memoir, a Brother’s Struggle and the poetry chapbook Aftermath

A veteran observer of international events, the indomitable Karol Nielsen (whose memoir Black Elephants describes being newly engaged in a war zone) turns the current lockdown into an opportunity to deep dive into her present circumstances (“small” when compared with her pre–March 2020 situation), as well as to retrieve images of Manhattan. By chronicling chance encounters—and recognizing how special they are—this teacher and former journalist rediscovers the immediacy of poetry. Taking time to reflect on the hows and whys of what happens to everyone, Nielsen reminds us how precious life is. She does, indeed, seize the day.

–Judith Mary Gee, author of the chapbook Edges of Wanting