Dear Reader,
Today in my part of the world, the neighborhood is filled with robins and ruby-throated hummingbirds. Daffodils rise out of the soil like miniature suns and tulips become the teacups of dew for the fawns. I have been volunteering at my local vaccination center—this is a hopeful time, and it’s a time when we need each other.
My new book, Dialogues with Rising Tides, is my first with Copper Canyon Press—and my first book published during a global pandemic. I feel immense gratitude for my publishing team, who’ve continued to show up to make books like mine possible. So I write during this National Poetry Month, to offer you a poem (below) and ask you to please join me in making a gift to Copper Canyon Press. When you opt to receive my book as thank-you, I’ll be happy to sign a copy and put it in the mail for you.
If you haven’t already, register today for our May 5th Livestream Launch Party, where I’ll read from my new book alongside Arthur Sze, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Nikki Wallschlaeger, and Noah Warren. I would love to see you there.
Many thanks, and love, light, and poetry,
Kelli Russell Agodon
Author of Dialogues with Rising Tides
P.S. Your support of Copper Canyon Press keeps us in a world where poetry offers an enduring sense of resilience, especially after such a challenging year. Please give generously. Thank you!
Americano
by Kelli Russell Agodon
April is not the cruelest month,
but the cruelest barista
who didn’t smile back,
who misspelled my name
and rolled her eyes
when she thought customers
weren’t watching. Coffee is sometimes
the color of ruin, sometimes dust.
Sometimes the ferry workers
talk of the worst-case scenarios
when I’m within earshot.
It’s Homeland Security Day.
It’s we-almost-have-enough-life-rafts—
except for you and you.
When the boat is on fire,
there’s only so much you can do
even though your reflection
in the window thinks you can
do more. Underestimate the beauty
in the world and spill coffee
down your shirt. The clouds
are heavy as they always are in April,
the month not the girl,
but this is not suffering,
it’s believing that miracles happen
to other people. We’re adrift
in the grayness
slipping through the window—
half the city sees sunrise,
the other half is lost in fog.
Get the Book
This spring, all the books featured in our National Poetry Month series—including Dialogues with Rising Tides—are available as gifts when you donate to Copper Canyon Press. Make your gift of $35 or above using the form below, and receive one or more books from our new season:
- $35 = choose one book
- $50 = choose two books
- $75 or $100 = choose three books
- $125 or $150 = receive all five books
Choose from these new and forthcoming poetry collections:
- Waterbaby, Nikki Wallschlaeger (available April 6)
- The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems, Arthur Sze (available April 13)
- Water I Won’t Touch, Kayleb Rae Candrilli (available April 20)
- Dialogues with Rising Tides, Kelli Russell Agodon (available April 27)
- The Complete Stories, Noah Warren (available May 18)
Thank you!
Launch Party Livestream Spring 2021
Join us Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 5:00pm PT for our spring Launch Party Livestream—an online poetry reading, benefit, and celebration of five new books from our spring season, featuring Kelli Russell Agodon, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Arthur Sze, Nikki Wallschlaeger, and Noah Warren.
Each poet will read from their new collection, and we’ll end the evening with a Q&A and opportunity to support Copper Canyon Press. Registration is free through Zoom, and all are welcome. See you there!
