Water Bodies: Love Letters to the Most Abundant Substance on Earth

by Laura Paskus (Editor), Aaron A. Abeyta

Genres: Environment

150 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2024

About the author

After working as a contract archaeologist and tribal consultant for six years, I began my journalism career at High Country News in 2002. Since then, I’ve worked for KUNM-FM, Tribal College Journal, New Mexico in Depth, and New Mexico Political Report, covering climate change, forest fires, water, and wildlife. I also spent many years freelancing for local, regional, and national outlets like Ms. Magazine, Audubon, The Progressive, Capital & Main, and the Santa Fe Reporter.

Currently, I’m senior producer of “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present and Future” on NMPBS. You can watch that program on the PBS App or YouTube (or Channel 5, if you live in New Mexico).

I love reading and being outside, and am super proud of my daughter.

Reviews

[Elizabeth G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collaborative collection arrives as urgent meditation rather than gentle nature writing. Fourteen Western voices converge on water's power to reshape not merely continents but consciousness, understanding the climate crisis as spiritual emergency rather than technical problem. What distinguishes this anthology is the refusal to let water remain backdrop; dry riverbeds and record floods become mirrors, forcing recognition of what we have tried to manage and sell. The prose carries the weight of elegy without surrendering to despair, each contributor finding different door into the same truth: where we find water, we find ourselves endangered and enlivened. For readers weary of environmental rhetoric that forgets wonder, this offers both grief and reverence. A necessary, collective witness.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of essays and poetry all include water as part of their themes. Paskus has curated a fantastic collection that focuses primarily of the American Southwest but will resonate with anyone who understands the life-giving force of water.

As a Midwesterner who believed where I live will always have plentiful water, Water Bodies gave me pause that in our ongoing drought nothing can be taken for granted any longer.

This is published by Torrey House Press, and the quality of their publications is among the best I've seen from a small independent publisher. Go to TorreyHouse.org to discover more.

[Annalisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

First poetry book!

[Marissa Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology is so gorgeous. I loved it. Read my full review here: https://rockymountainreader.org/limin...