Rewilding

by January Gill O'Neil

Rewilding, a relatively new ecological term, means to return an area of land to its original state. Reveling in letting go of the damaged and broken parts of ourselves while celebrating renewal and new beginnings, O'Neil's poetry examines the external worlds of race and culture and the internal, personal worlds of family and desire. Ultimately, these poems tap into what is wild and good in all of us.

Genres: Poetry

71 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2018

About the author

January Gill O’Neil is a poet whose work explores the afterlives of history in American landscapes and intimate lives. Her poems trace how place, memory, and moral inheritance shape identity across generations, joining lyric precision with documentary attention and restraint.

She is the author of four poetry collections published by CavanKerry Press: Glitter Road (2024), Rewilding (2018), Misery Islands (2014), and Underlife (2009). Glitter Road received the 2024 Poetry by the Sea Best Book Award and the Julia Ward Howe Prize and was a finalist for several honors, including the Massachusetts Book Award. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, The Nation, American Poetry Review, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series.

A Cave Canem fellow, O’Neil is a professor at Salem State University and teaches graduate poetry writing in the summer program at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. She served as executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival from 2012 to 2018 and was the 2019–2020 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi. She is a former chair of the AWP Board of Directors and its longest-serving current board member. She earned her B.A. at Old Dominion University and her M.F.A. at New York University.

Watch Glitter Road: A Poet's Journey with January Gill O'Neil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj_GC...

Reviews

[Courtney Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first book by this poet at the recommendation of someone whose work I admire; it won't be my last. The beautiful expression of desire for what isn't, for another, for what will be, the testimony of the betrayed, and the moving on after, as well as the trials, triumphs, and self-flagellation requisite of motherhood left me filled with a knowing ache and an awe-filled gratitude.

[Melissa Fondakowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't put into words how rewarding it is to read this book. I don't even like the word rewarding. What I really mean is, O'Neil gives you so much. She is an incredibly skilled poet, and generous writer. There were times when I was invited into such intimacy I wondered if I belonged, then felt so honored, and empowered by what she put into image, into song: how when someone wrongs you then leaves, there you are in that newly emptied space alone, with your pain. What do you do with it? We've all been there in our own ways, and O'Neil's ability to tap those emotional qualities and experiences shared among us isn't something many poets can do.

The craft is smart, there's a lot of humor, and sitting to read the whole book at one time is cathartic, gives you a complete story, and leaves you very satisfied.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowing that I'd driven over within hours to get a copy of O'Neil's Misery Islands, Open Books emailed me when they received her latest, Rewilding. I love many of these poems, especially ones that make my own body ache with remembered love of when my daughter was young. However the whole doesn't carry me away the way that my first experience did. Perhaps it is timing. There was already the end of a marriage and single-motherhood in the first collection, I don't know why it seems more raw in the second. I'll re-read in a few months and may have a different attitude. I may just be too blinded and in love with the narrative voice of Misery Islands. Still, exquisite poems.

[Melissa Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Years ago, Claudia Rankine's Citizen introduced me to microaggressions, and it's changed the way I think and see the world. This book by January Gill O'Neil continues that tradition, with poems like "On Being Told I Look Like FLOTUS, New Year's Eve Party 2014" that serve as a powerful reminder of how impact is more important than intentions (no matter how good those intentions might be), and it's important to consider possible implications of our thoughts and actions.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blessed to take a workshop with O’Neil at the Sanibel Island Writers Conference. She is an inspiring writer, and this book is a collection of poems taking us through every emotion an adult woman may feel. “Mudlarking” and “rewilding” are words permanently in my vocabulary. If you’re looking for a collection of “just right” poems, this is it.

[Felicity Fields · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found some of the poems to be quite lovely and moving. Others - mostly the ones about her divorce - I didn't resonate with. Not quite as nature-y as I hoped from the title, but a quick read with moments of contemplation.

[Dawne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine collection of poems that speak to the experience of women in the 21st century--their fears as parents, their longings, their lonelinesses, and their resiliency.

[Jen Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book of poetry. Insightful, subtle, layered. I want to read more from this poet.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful and underrated collection 💙

[Emily Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems both gentle and powerful. Part four is especially electric.

[Megan Stolz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this poetry collection -- the topics, the voice. This is the first collection I've read from January Gill O'Neil and I'd like to read more.