Rare as the Kotuku

By Camille Norvaisas

I know of no poet with as generous a mind and as sharp an eye as Camille Norvaisas. She invites us to embrace the world we have been given: "You came to the Green Mountains / for the largess of things; the ferocity of nature. / What you get is a small bird." Here is a poet who recognizes what Marianne Moore did: the need to look closely in order to see widely: "With pen in hand/take direction / from the pelican: search / hover, dive, strike." This is a book that puts its faith in the hard work language is ready to do, once it's in the right hands. Reader, you can count on these words. You are in caring, trustworthy hands. -Christopher Bursk, author of The Improbable Swervings of Atoms Occasionally, one is lucky enough to read something that not only moves them, but lingers in their thoughts long after the pages are closed. This new book, Rare As The Kotuku by Camille Norvaisas is just such a book. Her exceptional poems linger in an emotional connection yet have such an authority, such courage, it's easy to forget the fragile topics they touch upon. Norvaisas delights and invites the reader to lose themselves in the complicated web of family, the devastating beauty of nature and to relish her gentle sense of play, all while reminding us that "At the end of the pen is deep water /and though we hold our breath long / we surface shaken, yet write; then take flight across the lake / our toes just dipping the surface." You may close this book but the poems will stay forever open in your mind. -Lorraine Henrie Lins, author of All The Stars Blown To One Side Of The Sky In Rare as the Kotuku, the powerful debut collection by Camille Norvaisas, we are lured by lust, reviled by abuse, sobered by struggle, saddened by tribulation and inspired by poems of survival. Her stories of the vulnerable, of the small, are both accessible and courageous. Norvaisas' poems define life and death in real terms and demonstrate the possibilities of poetry when it's done well. Her punch-in-the-gut poems are aces, and in this breathtaking collection, she holds a winning hand. -Bill Wunder, author of Kingdom of Heaven

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0692482776
• ISBN13: 9780692482773
• Release Date: August 2015
• Publisher: Aldrich Press
• Length: 60 Pages
• Weight: 0.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.1" x 6.0"