Our Air

by Nora Treatbaby

A debut poetry collection about Earth and to Earth that contemplates imposed systems―gender, capitalism, time, wage and exploitation―and how they are mapped onto us, the trees, and the planet. Immersed in a tangled weave of contemporary life where big box stores and suburban parking lots coexist alongside the instructive silence of juniper trees and a pulsing waterfall, Our Air sketches the possibilities of eco and social interdependence during late-stage capitalism.Their inscriber, Nora Treatbaby, is a trans woman reckoning with the constraints of gender categories, when being a woman is “an implausible dream” and “an insane vibration.” With sincere curiosity and a sprinkling of levity, these poems advocate for the world-building potential available in a material commitment to gentle friendship with all networks of life on Earth.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published February 27, 2024

Reviews

[Brendan McHugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book? It’s a banger. You should read it and you’ll want to declare it your new fave book of poetry. That’s what happened to me. I swear.

[S P · Rating 4 out of 5]

from Philosophy
similar to the way
light is migratory,
arriving at the moment
of appearance. (5)
[...]
love is the porch
upon which I sit
and ponder the
tree its antinoise
which does not
occur (11)
[...]
our aim is not to disperse
things from their categories
but to dissolve the
tenses from which
arrangement is possible (15)

from Of
I still suppose that a
tree can be born
as though not parcel
to some larger
motion of forgetting
and being by
memory and by
mouth a petal cage. (24)

from Tree
what budding what woodenness is permitted in philosophy reconciled with value of that which is mere spaciousness? Such that things are their intervals, such that the thinking of things is their beauty / their expiration.

in future languages of
the stem
I never thought
this thought (56)

Passage
profits grow but cannot flower
coarse road of soil
cuts away from the range
frees itself underneath
the surface
of the "plot."
I am still small compared to
what water perceives, and so
this is the sense in which I
strive to become deep.
quoting a rock in the ground:
"abolish chronology" (61)

[cafaco]

some of the nuances and passages flew over my head, but i still resonated with almost everything i didn't understand. maybe it's the green lettering and repeated references to plants, seeds, and trees, but this work feels like it expands like roots, with motifs and ideas sprawling and weaving in and out of each other in a way that feels like they have no beginning or no end, like everything has always been this way. there's a strong sense of introspection across this collection, both serious and deeply unserious and funny and devastating but by the end, i felt really hopeful, feeling like i was just invited to take in a deep breath and find all the ways i'm already a part of this world.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily top 3 books of the year WOW. Felt wholly uprooted this morning / complete despair re: the state of the world, the state of myself. Read aloud on the train and at my dining room table and was able to access generosity for myself and an optimism and curiosity that have been startlingly lacking …… these poems are smart, funny, living, a shake. So encouraging when an object is spine, holds u. I feel less fear disguised as other weird shit. I legitttttt love to hear myself laugh out loud and murmur on the A train. Im so thankful for Nora !

[ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

so many cool intersecting themes here. i luv reading i cant stop today

[anon · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. best book of poems i've read in forever, maybe ever

[Clayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

read aloud with friends

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's talk about the incredibly gorgeous and effective green ink for the type! I enjoyed some poems in this collection more than others, but definitely felt the back third was a home run.