“[Twichell's] poems generate the requisite heat with the poet's precise, original and frequently brilliant use of language. . . . A major voice in contemporary poetry.” —Publishers Weekly

“[Twichell's poems] track the inner movements of one life with an unexpected freshness.” —The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly called Chase Twichell “a major voice in contemporary poetry,” and this long overdue retrospective supports the claim. Selected from six award-winning books, this volume collects the best of Twichell's meditative and startling poems. A longtime student of Zen Buddhism, Twichell probes how the self changes over time and how the perception of self affects the history and meaning of our lives. Her poems exhibit a deep and urgent love of the natural world amidst ecological decimation, while also delving into childhood memories and the surprise and nourishment that come from radical shifts in perception.

What etiquette holds us backfrom more intimate speech,especially now, at the end of the world?Can't we begin a conversationhere in the vestibule,then gradually move it inside?What holds us backfrom saying things outright?

Chase Twichell is the author of six books of poetry and the best-selling writer's manual Practice of Poetry. She is the founding editor of Ausable Press and lives in rural New York with her husband, the novelist Russell Banks.

“[Twichell’s] poems generate the requisite heat with the poet’s precise, original and frequently brilliant use of language. . . . A major voice in contemporary poetry.” —Publishers Weekly

“[Twichell’s poems] track the inner movements of one life with an unexpected freshness.” —The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly called Chase Twichell “a major voice in contemporary poetry,” and this long overdue retrospective supports the claim. Selected from six award-winning books, this volume collects the best of Twichell’s meditative and startling poems. A longtime student of Zen Buddhism, Twichell probes how the self changes over time and how the perception of self affects the history and meaning of our lives. Her poems exhibit a deep and urgent love of the natural world amidst ecological decimation, while also delving into childhood memories and the surprise and nourishment that come from radical shifts in perception.

What etiquette holds us backfrom more intimate speech,especially now, at the end of the world?Can’t we begin a conversationhere in the vestibule,then gradually move it inside?What holds us backfrom saying things outright?

Chase Twichell is the author of six books of poetry and the best-selling writer’s manual Practice of Poetry. She is the founding editor of Ausable Press and lives in rural New York with her husband, the novelist Russell Banks.

"Poems of balanced wildness and instinctual grace."—New York Journal of Books

“[Twichell’s poems] open out into a stark, sometimes bewildered clarity.” —The Washington Post

“Suppose you had Sappho’s passion, the intelligence and perspicacity of Curie, and Dickinson’s sweet wit . . . then you would have the poems of Chase Twichell.” —Hayden Carruth

“A major voice in contemporary poetry.” —Publishers Weekly

Chase Twichell’s eighth collection lifts up the joy of the moment while mourning a changing world. In Things as It Is—purposefully not things as they are—the present and past parallel and intermingle. Meditating on a litany of formative moments, Twichell’s clear-as-a-bell voice delivers visceral and emotionally resonant lyrics, elegies, and confessions.

From “What the Trees Said”:

The trees have begun to undress. Soon snow will come to bandage the whole wounded world.When I was young I eloped with the sky. I wore blue-black, with under-lit ribbons of pink . . .

Chase Twichell, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Twichell has published seven previous poetry collections, including Horses Where Answers Should Have Been, which received the 2011 Kingsley Tufts Award. For ten years, she owned and operated Ausable Press.

“[Twichell's] poems generate the requisite heat with the poet's precise, original and frequently brilliant use of language. . . . A major voice in contemporary poetry.” —Publishers Weekly

“[Twichell's poems] track the inner movements of one life with an unexpected freshness.” —The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly called Chase Twichell “a major voice in contemporary poetry,” and this long overdue retrospective supports the claim. Selected from six award-winning books, this volume collects the best of Twichell's meditative and startling poems. A longtime student of Zen Buddhism, Twichell probes how the self changes over time and how the perception of self affects the history and meaning of our lives. Her poems exhibit a deep and urgent love of the natural world amidst ecological decimation, while also delving into childhood memories and the surprise and nourishment that come from radical shifts in perception.

What etiquette holds us backfrom more intimate speech,especially now, at the end of the world?Can't we begin a conversationhere in the vestibule,then gradually move it inside?What holds us backfrom saying things outright?

Chase Twichell is the author of six books of poetry and the best-selling writer's manual Practice of Poetry. She is the founding editor of Ausable Press and lives in rural New York with her husband, the novelist Russell Banks.

“[Twichell’s] poems generate the requisite heat with the poet’s precise, original and frequently brilliant use of language. . . . A major voice in contemporary poetry.” —Publishers Weekly

“[Twichell’s poems] track the inner movements of one life with an unexpected freshness.” —The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly called Chase Twichell “a major voice in contemporary poetry,” and this long overdue retrospective supports the claim. Selected from six award-winning books, this volume collects the best of Twichell’s meditative and startling poems. A longtime student of Zen Buddhism, Twichell probes how the self changes over time and how the perception of self affects the history and meaning of our lives. Her poems exhibit a deep and urgent love of the natural world amidst ecological decimation, while also delving into childhood memories and the surprise and nourishment that come from radical shifts in perception.

What etiquette holds us backfrom more intimate speech,especially now, at the end of the world?Can’t we begin a conversationhere in the vestibule,then gradually move it inside?What holds us backfrom saying things outright?

Chase Twichell is the author of six books of poetry and the best-selling writer’s manual Practice of Poetry. She is the founding editor of Ausable Press and lives in rural New York with her husband, the novelist Russell Banks.

"Poems of balanced wildness and instinctual grace."—New York Journal of Books

“[Twichell’s poems] open out into a stark, sometimes bewildered clarity.” —The Washington Post

“Suppose you had Sappho’s passion, the intelligence and perspicacity of Curie, and Dickinson’s sweet wit . . . then you would have the poems of Chase Twichell.” —Hayden Carruth

“A major voice in contemporary poetry.” —Publishers Weekly

Chase Twichell’s eighth collection lifts up the joy of the moment while mourning a changing world. In Things as It Is—purposefully not things as they are—the present and past parallel and intermingle. Meditating on a litany of formative moments, Twichell’s clear-as-a-bell voice delivers visceral and emotionally resonant lyrics, elegies, and confessions.

From “What the Trees Said”:

The trees have begun to undress. Soon snow will come to bandage the whole wounded world.When I was young I eloped with the sky. I wore blue-black, with under-lit ribbons of pink . . .

Chase Twichell, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Twichell has published seven previous poetry collections, including Horses Where Answers Should Have Been, which received the 2011 Kingsley Tufts Award. For ten years, she owned and operated Ausable Press.