Release Date: March 4, 2025
Size: 6 x 9
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57869-186-9
eBook ISBN: 978-1-57869-187-6
Library of Congress Control Number: TBD
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Info Here or at Ingram.

SYNOPSIS

In Joyce Thomas’s third book, the beauty, wonder, and marvel of the natural world are memorably evoked in meticulously crafted poems. At times elegiac, at times playful, poems take inspiration from—and hold witness to—the natural world as it is, as well as the abuses to which humans have subjected it. Calling on the past and foreseeing into a future, both grappling with extinctions, Some Things in This World uses the power and transcendent possibilities of the sympathetic imaginative and the transformative magic of language to hold a mirror to our world.

PRAISE

“Thomas's language is carefully crafted, fresh, surprising and often startling, sometimes with a rye humor and deep, deep empathy most often for the world’s creatures. Her insight is laser focused, serving up heart-felt truths in brilliant prose about the inhabitants of this endangered world, whether her own chicken-hunting dog from her childhood or frogs or bears or eagles or the cacti of the Southwest…There is always a revelation to be found at the end of her poems, a compassionate zinger I look forward to, a summing up of what is most important…and always it is about how precious and perilous life can be.”

—J.Carter Merwin, artist and author of thirteen books for adults, young adults, and children and publisher at MacGregor House

______________________

“The poems in this collection offer an unflinching look at the human capacity for cruelty, particularly toward animals. At the same time, the poems reveal an empathic connection and radiate compassion for many things in this world, especially living things. Poem after poem captures the reader, holding you in the grip of language, then releases you, sometimes gently, occasionally roughly, but always changed from the experience…These meticulously crafted poems offer much to appreciate in terms of structure, sound elements, imagery, and meaning...There is music in the language, descriptions are crisp as a November day, and the imagery is transcendently sublime.”

 —David Mook, MFA, author of Each Leaf

______________________

“Joyce Thomas uses irony and humor to alert us to human frailty and environmental desecration. Whether it’s a Mesozoic footprint, an osprey atop a communication tower, or a mastodon preserved forever in the La Brea Tar Pits, her images are unforgettable. These poems will help us to carry on in uncertain times.” 

—George Longenecker, author of Star Route and past president of the Poetry  Society of Vermont

MeEt the author

Joyce Thomas has lived in Vermont since 1980; she is the author of two previous poetry collections.