Many Small Fires - Softcover

Poetry. "In this marvelous debut collection, Charlotte Pence provides us with all the pleasures of poetic tension. We have the pull of narrative and the flares of the lyric, the graceful rhythm of blank verse and the thrill of innovative forms, the contest for survival both between a father and a daughter and between Homo Sapiens and other species within our genus. The poems explore the idea of survival, not only the survival of a speaker who transcends a precarious childhood but, for example, a 'juvenile male bear with his head stuck in a plastic Walmart candy jar' who 'learned to drink by laying down in shallow streams.' In language that is sometimes word-crunchy and dense, sometimes delightfully simple ('In her small life, she is happier than before'), Pence's MANY SMALL FIRES is a beautiful, necessary book. Come, warm your hands."—Beth Ann Fennelly

Charlotte Pence's poetry merges the personal with the scientific by engaging with current evolutionary theory. Her first full-length poetry collection, MANY SMALL FIRES, explores her father's chronic homelessness while simultaneously detailing the physiological changes that enabled humans to form cities, communities, and households. A professor of English and creative writing at Eastern Illinois University, she is also the author of two award- winning poetry chapbooks including THE BRANCHES, THE AXE, THE MISSING (Black Lawrence Press, 2012), and the editor of The Poetics of American Song Lyrics (University Press of Mississippi, 2012). Awards include Discovered Voices, multiple Pushcart nominations, and the New Millennium Writing award. New poetry has recently been published in Alaska Quarterly Review, Denver Quarterly, North American Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Southern Poetry Anthology.