A Kayak is My Church Pew

Admirers of Lorine Niedecker's work will enjoy Patricia Carney's A Kayak is My Church Pew. The translucent poems in this highly unified collection, "witness / creation once more." Peopled with beavers and bears, turtles and dragonflies, these are works of water with a splash of fertile mud, capable of celebrating a loon's egg as an "oval container// for this whole / echoing world." But this book's greatest gift is that it lets us ride along on Carney's journeys-both literal and spiritual.

Michael Kriesel is a North American Review Hearst Award Winner, former Rosebud Poetry Editor, Past President Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, author of full-length collection Zen Amen: abecedarians

In this beautiful collection of poems, Carney ponders on the complex interconnections of the natural world, as well as the natural cycles that bring us life, death, and rebirth. Placing her paddle in primordial pools and still waters connecting to the past, she reminds us of where we have come from, of the Great Spirit and people that came before us. Patricia's poems reflect on the impacts that humans have had in altering this landscape ("damn dams" and plastic pollution), that are not unlike the "echoing rings" that radiate outward from her paddle. The author takes the reader along on a kayak trip on beautiful Turtle Flambeau Flowage, surveying the natural wonders and beauty of northern Wisconsin.

Cheryl Nenn is an ecologist for Milwaukee Riverkeepers, 17 years advocating for the protection of water quality and wildlife habitat in Southeast Wisconsin. She previously worked for the US Forest Service, Michigan DNR, and former US Peace Corps