Uncomfortable Ecologies

by Elizabeth Joy Levinson

No ecological system is without conflict. Uncomfortable Ecologies is an exploration of relationships and their tenuous nature. Levinson explores the domestic and wild, the macro and the micro, the familiar and the other, the objective and the confessional. These poems seek to uncover vulnerabilities within ecologies as a bridge to a new level of understanding and intimacy. The speaker parallels the irreparable losses faced in our environment due to habitat destruction and climate change with the challenges of families facing poverty and addiction. Trees shatter in extreme weather, oceans rinse a family of their dreams, wolves protect one another by inflicting pain. But the pain is punctuated by moments of visceral tenderness, a bird in a hand, the velvet of a bee. Difficult choices made for the sake of love. The very heart of this book is the belief that our disconnection from nature is a disconnection from each other. The heart of this book is grief and loss, but the hope of this book is healing.

Genres: Poetry

102 pages, Paperback

Published July 18, 2023

Reviews

[Darci Schummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Mary Schreiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Joy Levinson’s UNCOMFORTABLE ECOLOGIES is a must read—especially for those of us who feel disengaged from nature, lost, and yes, at times even a bit broken. She weaves the heartbeat of nature into every poem and submerges readers into the natural world. ‘Broken Water’ reminds us how “…the changes in the water / were predictable. / I was not” and ‘Subnivean' concludes “Hold this small velvet against your cheek / which softness does the world need, / which softness do we not?”

Maybe it was Jericho Brown’s moving keynote at AWP, maybe it was my fond memories of E.E. Cummings from my college days, and maybe it was just me, wanting to take my writing to another, deeper level, but I was determined to unearth a book of poetry that would re-inspire me. I found it within the pages of UNCOMFORTABLE ECOLOGIES.