Description: Elizabeth J. Coleman's Mega-Galaxies considers both the vastness and smallness of what surrounds us, from our communities to the larger natural world.
Brief description: Matthew Olzmann is the author of three poetry publications. In 2012, Olzmann edited Another & Another: An Anthology from the Grind Daily Writing Series along with Ross White.[3] His debut collection, Mezzanines, was published by Alice James Books in 2013, which won the Kundiman Prize. In November 2016, Olzmann published his second collection, Contradictions in the Design, also from Alice James Books. In January 2022, his third book of poems, Constellation Route, was published by Alice James Books.
Review Quotes:
"From a street-corner bodega to the Serengeti Plain to the 'bell-jazz of our galaxy, ' these poems find meaning in all spaces. I appreciated these poems for their steady voice, precision, and how they often quietly wrestle with big questions of the human spirit. Chapbooks might be 'small' by definition, but this collection feels rich and expansive; the contents of Mega-Galaxies push us toward something vast and infinite."
- Matthew Olzmann, author of Constellation Route"'I, who am made of an exploding star, / remember chicken paprikash with my grandfather / long ago when this was a Hungarian neighborhood, ' begins one poem by Elizabeth J. Coleman, remarkably linking the cosmos, history and personal experience in three lines. I am reminded of the great philosopher-scientist, Carlo Rovelli when he writes, 'We are made of the same stardust of which all things are made, and when we are immersed in suffering or when we are experiencing intense joy we are being nothing other than what we can't help but be: a part of our world.' Indeed, Coleman takes us through many worlds, often counterpointing scientific fact and metaphor, the macro and micro visions of her world, which is itself global. It is a world also defined by temporal counterpoints: 'crickets that sang with the dinosaurs / still sing with us, ' she writes. In all this, these poems, with their expansive vision so essential for our fragmented and chaotic world, remind us, with Rovelli, 'what matters is not how things are, but rather how they interact.'
- Richard Jackson, author of Footprints & The Heart as Framed"Elizabeth J. Coleman's Mega-Galaxies invites us to look outward at the mysteries and possibilities of our world and beyond yet, why do I find myself constantly looking inward? Perceptive, curious, and brimming with surprising insight, Elizabeth J. Coleman's poetry reminds us that beauty and wonder-if we truly want them-are within our reach."
- Rigoberto Gonzalez, author of To the Boy Who Was Night