Under the Tail of Milky Way Galaxy

Poetry by a Wisconsin poet who served as a Door County Poet Laureate, won a best book of poetry award from the Wisconsin Library Association for Under the Tail of the Milky Way Galaxy, and has been published in national and international anthologies. Her poetry in this book celebrates the natural world but also the challenges facing humans in a world they are not treating with respect. These are minimalist poems, tightly constructed with both images and metaphors that often contain multiple layers of meaning that close examination can uncover.Here is a harvest of finely judged poems that express a joy in the natural world. Carefully observed and beautifully expressed, they are not merely nature poems, however. Ethel Mortenson Davis has a deep reverence for nature, coupled with a sadness at humankind's frequent indifference, there are moments of striking insight as, for example, in this reference to the tree snail or slug: "trails of lubricant/caught by sunlight/ in a mathematical moment." Elsewhere there are equivocal judgements about her own species, as when she tells a rescued animal: "humans are both tormentors/ and saviors." So, there is delight to be found in these pages but also a call for awareness. John Looker, author of The Human Hive, Poems for My Family, and Shimmering Horizons.There is something profoundly spiritual and tragically elusive in our understanding of the vast wilderness. In Under the Tail of the Milky Way Galaxy, Ethel Mortenson Davis shows us how to connect deeply with the sacred spiral and reminds us that compassion is the fragrant essence that draws light into the darkness of human desire and elevates us to the edge of grand possibility. Standing Feather, author of The Glowing Pink.

Pages: 84, Paperback, Four Windows Press