Mountain Offerings: Poems
Mountain Offerings: Poems
Amy Allen
April 2, 2024
“Radiant with natural light.”
–Jardine Libaire, author of White Fur and Here Kitty Kitty
Release Date: April 2, 2024
Size: 6x9
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57869-190-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023921195
eBook: 978-1-57869-191-3 Order eBook Here.
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Info Here or at Ingram.
SYNOPSIS
Through interactions with and the examination of the natural world, poems in Mountain Offerings move from a youthful voice to a more experienced one, showing a coming-of-age in partnership, parenthood, loss, and the development of independence and self-awareness. The simplicity, beauty, and peace of the outdoors provides an ideal vehicle through which this poet explores complex human emotions. From the poem “January in Vermont”:
The stars always shine brightest
on the coldest of days,
a reward just for making it.
Mountain Offerings is accessible, honest, poignant, and—rooted in nature and the natural world—earthly.
Praise
“A heartfelt and resonant collection of poetry.”
—Kirkus Reviews
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“Mountain Offerings lovingly transports us from mountain to lake and back again, across sand-stippled memories, lingering in the heart’s most intimate moments with a reverent awareness of their literal and figurative landscapes. Each poem is indeed a glorious offering of gratitude to and for the natural world and our experiences of it—and so, of each other.”
—Jennine Capó Crucet, author of Say Hello to My Little Friend
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“Mountain Offerings delicately unfurls a sequence of emotional and ecological landscapes. Wild onions and fiddlehead ferns, flower ‘imposters in the upturned soil’—Allen conjures a richly specific sense of place. In the backyard gardens, ocean docks, and mountain trails of this collection, nature emerges as the fulcrum between the past, the present, and the possible.”
—Sonia Feldman, winner of the 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers
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“From the very first lucid lines of Mountain Offerings the collection of poems seems committed—through brevity and clarity and lean strength—to tell the truth of a life. There are elements that are ephemeral, from drip castles to wild onions to snow, and there are riddles, like overturned lifeboats, and a lost mother’s found orchids. It feels like a promise from poet to the reader: she will not lie or put on a show. All of it is clear as water, burned to its essence, radiant with natural light.”
—Jardine Libaire, author of White Fur and Here Kitty Kitty
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“These narrative, fictive poems capture life, love and loss, the passage of time, longing, and what it means to live now, with an optimism and grace as clear as a Vermont stream. Highly recommended.”
—Thomas Christopher Greene, bestselling author of The Headmaster's Wife and Notes from the Porch
Reviews & In the News
StoryComic, April 20, 2024: A BREATH OF FRESH MOUNTAIN AIR: A REVIEW OF 'MOUNTAIN OFFERINGS' BY AMY ALLEN
StoryComic Podcast, Apr 14, 2024: Amy Allen Explores the Vistas of Emotion in 'Mountain Offerings'
Orca Media, April 13, 2024: PoemCity Rootstock Poetry Reading VIDEO.
The Eagle Times, March 19, 2024: Three Vermont poets reading debut books April 13 in Montpelier
Bob On Books, January 30, 2024: Review: Mountain Offerings
Kirkus Reviews, January 30, 2024: A heartfelt and resonant collection of poetry.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Amy Allen, photo by Martin Wilson.
Amy Allen (she/her) studied English literature and creative writing at Skidmore College and at Drew University. Her poetry has been published in a variety of journals, including West Trade Review, The Write Launch, The Mountain Troubadour, Pine Row Press, Months to Years, Atlanta Review, Fauxmoir Lit Mag, The Moving Force Journal, and Sunflowers at Midnight. She lives in Shelburne, Vermont with her husband, children, and dogs, and is blessed to enjoy time outdoors in the beautiful Green Mountain State throughout all seasons of the year. She owns All of the Write Words, a freelance writing/editing business, a profession that thankfully allows her the time to write for pleasure. Additionally, she serves as the Poet Laureate for the town of Shelburne.