We Are Not Where We Are

by Matt Donovan, Jenny George

Since its publication in 1854, Henry David Thoreau's Walden has ensnared the American imagination. In We Are Not Where We Are, poets Matt Donovan and Jenny George perform a chapter-by-chapter erasure of Walden, challenging its deeply flawed beliefs about individualism, the natural world, and relationships between people and the land. The resultant poems embody Donovan and George's collaborative spirit, unearthing in Thoreau's text a pluralistic vision of limitless possibility and wild beauty.

26 pages, Paperback

Published June 10, 2025

Reviews

[Burgi Zenhaeusern · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been fascinated by erasure ever since I've first come across the form: its playfulness, the challenges its creation poses, and its capacity to lift poet and reader alike out of their respective ruts, while using the source text to speak back at itself, but not only. And to erase Thoreau's Walden, one poem per chapter, is no small feat. Donovan and George do this wonderfully in We Are Not Where We Are. Their poems are beautifully lyrical, a lyricism that despite everything seems to wink at the reader and at itself in places. More often than not, the poems made me smile.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book. It’s technically an erasure of Thoreau’s Walden, but much more condensed than many erasures; instead of blacked out pages with a few legible words on them, these poems indicate omissions with gaps in the lines. The authors make lovely use of Thoreau’s real weirdness and playfulness, while also suggesting that he may be more self-centered than he knows.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterclass in erasure. Adore Jenny George's solo poetry and loved this collaborative book.