Poems that bask in the beauty of nature, queerness, and love while exploring how dichotomies form identity.
Amie Whittemore's Nest of Matches is a lavish declaration of the beauty of the natural world, queer identity, and of the imagination set free. Whittemore's third collection explores the complexities of love—romantic, familial, and love for place—and wonders at cycles of life, finding that: ""Every habit / even love—strangest / of them all—offers exhaustion / and renewal."" Moving seamlessly from meditations on the moon's phases to explorations of dream spaces to searches for meaning through patterns of love and loss, Whittemore's work embodies the mysteries of dichotomies—grief and joy, consciousness and unconsciousness, habit and spontaneity—and how they coexist to create our identities. Throughout the collection, Whittemore reveals how interior nature manifests into exterior habits and how physical landscapes shape the psyche.
By:
Amie Whittemore
Imprint: Autumn House Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 23mm
Weight: 172g
ISBN: 9781637680896
ISBN 10: 1637680899
Pages: 88
Publication Date: 24 July 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: No Longer Our Product
Thunder Moon Nocturne Tornado Song First Dream Moon When All Things Ripen The Turtle Solstice Swim Blue Moon The Dream Therapist Another Queer Pastoral that isn’t a Time Machine Another Queer Love Poem that Fails to Change Anything Harvest Moon The Crows If No One Opens Us, We’ll Thirst Future Elegy for my Grandmother Hunter’s Moon Self-Portrait on the Cusp The Squid Pandemic Pastoral Beaver Moon Another Queer Love Poem that Fails to Change Anything Butterfly Bandage Cold Moon The Required Fire The Tunnel Wolf Moon The Snow Owl The Problem of Being Good The Dream Yard Worm Sap Moon The Otter The Journey Libra Questionnaire Hunger Moon Self-Portrait on the Cusp Battered & Shiny Wind Poppy, Fire Poppy Pink Moon On the Banks of Sinking Creek Dove Questionnaire Another Queer Pastoral that Fails to Address White Supremacy Flower Moon Another Midlife Morning The Peony Last Dream Strawberry Moon The Bear Aubade Self-Portrait as Another Spring
Amie Whittemore (she/her) is the author of the poetry collectionsGlass Harvest(Autumn House Press),Star-Tent: A Triptych(Tolsun Books), andNest of Matches(Autumn House, 2024). She was the 2020-2021 Poet Laureate of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. She teaches creative writing at Eastern Illinois University and directs MTSU Write, a from-home creative writing mentorship program.
Reviews for Nest of Matches
"""In Nest of Matches, Whittemore has the audacity to create a series of poems titled 'Another Queer Love Poem that Fails' and then embeds them in a book that beautifies queerness as a source of possibility, transformation, and survival. The poems in Nest of Matches struggle with understanding the queer self as lovable, as desirable, even as worthy of life. Yet, at the same time, this book celebrates and anoints this confused, combustible self ('Litter, confetti; what's / the difference? It shines like it belongs'). This is a book of winter on the cusp of spring, a heart that wants to abandon 'good [as] a synonym for being good.' If you are lost in the dark, Whittemore will grab hold of your hand and run with you toward the moon.""--Eric Tran, author of ""The Gutter Spread Guide to Prayer"" and winner of the Oregon Book Award for Poetry"
- Short-listed for Midlands Author Book Award 2025 (United States)
