The landscapes Michael Walls traverses in Climbing an Unnamed Mountain, range from the natural-kayaking the Rio Grande and crossing trails in Georgia-to the personal, political, and historical. Elegies for friends, family, and dying species appear alongside a moving sequence exploring the legacies of nuclear testing in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Ultimately, this wide-ranging collection asks us to consider our connections to others and the planet we share. What does it mean to be a child, a parent, a citizen? Richly observed and carefully rendered, these poems challenge us to respond to the world's injustices while never forgetting its luminous beauty. -Chelsea Rathburn, author of Still Life with Mother and Knife and current Poet Laureate of Georgia In these frenetic and often frightening times, Michael Walls delivers just what we need so much. His calm, steady gaze embraces not only his own life but our collective past and current history. With unflinching courage and honesty, he considers both the joys and scars that only lovers see. Going far beyond most books of poetry, his poems of the Marshall Islands are must-reads for every American. -Dan Veach, founder of Atlanta Review, author of Lunchboxes and translator of Beowulf & Beyond and Songs of the Cid
These are poems animated equally by conscience and close observation. In a compelling combination of free verse and received or invented forms, Michael Walls pays tribute to family, friends and lovers-memory clutched inside the dissolution that time brings. But his gaze also moves farther outward to contend with the human ravages on the natural world, the profound harm of empire and colonialism, and today's dire political moment. Climbing an Unnamed Mountain is impressive in its range and in its depth. -Luke Hankins, author of Radiant Obstacles and founder and editor of Orison Books
