Otolith

Otolith — the ear stone — is a series of bones that help us to orient ourselves in space. In Otolith, Emily Nilsen attempts a similar feat in poetry: to turn the reader’s attention to their relationship to the world, revealing an intertidal state between the rootedness of place and the uncertainty and tenuousness of human connection. Born in the fecundity of British Columbia’s coastal rainforest, these poems are full of life and decay; they carry the odours of salmon rivers and forests of fir; salal growing in the fog-bound mountain slopes.

This astonishing debut, at once spare and lush, displays an exquisite lyricism built on musical lines and mature restraint. Nilsen turns over each idea carefully, letting nothing escape her attention and saying no more than must be said. Combining a scientist’s precision and a poet’s sensitivity, Otolith examines the ache of nostalgia in the relentless passage of time.

Contributors

Emily Nilsen

Emily Nilsen was born and raised in Vancouver. She has published poems in PRISM International, Lake, and the Goose, and in a chapbook entitled Place, No Manual. Nilsen was a finalist for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2015, after have been longlisted for the prize on three separate occasions. Her work has also been longlisted for the UK National Poetry Prize. She lives in Nelson, British Columbia.

Chapter Contributors Pages Year Price
Pre-dawn Walk – In the Forest I Found an Organ – Directions to Crabapples – Float House b. 1919 – Fog – Float House – A Geologist Conducts an Aerial Survey of …
18 $1.80
Meanwhile, You and I in the Endless – Meanwhile, Earl Grey in Port Hardy – Meanwhile, I Take a Glass of Scotch to Bed – At the Surprise Birthday Party – Meanwhile, in His …
11 $1.10
Pre-dawn Walk – Pre-dawn Walk – Fragile Morning of the Landlady – Fragile Mornings of the Couple Moored to the Dock Next Door – Fragile Morning of the Farmhand Who Longs …
24 $2.40
On Day Eight We Cross the Arctic Circle – Midnight Sun – Little Stick Man with a Knife – Mouth of a River in Greenland – Meanwhile, I Wait for You in Arrivals – In …
12 $1.20
Return to the Coast – And What of the Fog? – And What of the Fog? – And What of the Fog? – And What of the Fog? – And What of the Fog? – Burdwood Islands, Ten …
13 $1.30