Poetry Reading: William Allen, THE BIRTH OF THE ATLANTIC

Bill Allen's work echoes beloved voices from poetry, poets, history and politics and a look at the natural world in an era of climate action, with personal memories and a fervent look into language, love and the ties that bind us to each other. There's humor, humanism, a music of the earth, irreverence, a quest for ethical answers in a world titling off its axis. Poems echo Lowell and Bishop, Pasolini, Philip Levine and Muriel Rukeyser, with their spirits of questioning and grace. Also a visual artist, Bill's work can be seen at www.ekphrases.com.He is the recipient of a 2009 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in Creative Writing and has published five previous books of poems. Bill worked at the United Nations in New York in writing and technology communications for many years after teaching at Cooper Union and the School of Visual Arts, hoping to bring a poetry of humanism and heart to the poetry canon. He's currently working with a conservation advisory group to explore and inventory Hudson Valley local habitats and climate needs.
“Moving from the birth of the Atlantic to the streets of New York, from moss clinging to stone to cicadas screeching in summer trees, William Allen’s poems create a living atlas of memory, geology, migration, extinction, survival, and wonder. Driven by fierce intelligence, moral urgency, and a profound tenderness toward the living world, these poems hold deep time and daily life in the same breath. Both elegy and celebration, The Birth of the Atlantic reminds us that the story of humanity is inseparable from the story of the Earth itself. “ --David Hassler, Bob & Walt Wick Executive Director of the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University and coeditor of The Nature of Our Times: Poems on America’s Lands, Waters, Wildlife, and Other Natural Wonders

Akiko Busch is the author of several essay collections, including How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency, Nine Ways to Cross a River, The Incidental Steward which was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Natural History Literature category of 2013 National Outdoor Book Awards, and From the Millpond to the Sea: One River, Three Tributaries, Four Dams. She was a contributing editor at Metropolis magazine for twenty years, and her work has appeared in numerous national magazines, newspapers, and exhibition catalogues. She is on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New York City.