Jory Mickelson, All This Divide

All This Divide circles and circles again the contemporary world in crisis: pandemics, environmental collapse, unending war, and unfettered consumption. These poems investigate the history and legacy of the West. Each layer has its own story to tell and also touches upon the stories that come before and after.

Jory Mickelson's All This Divide circumambulates through time, excavating the violent layers of lineage: "Our story / one dark furrow." Mickelson's images are sharp and evocative, imaginative and felt: "The swallows— // they are combing the clouds' trailing hair" and "the knotted // hawk you are / pulling from my throat." Lyrical and sonically curious, these poems press their ears against the hearts of many storytellers. All This Divide asks us to consider our connectedness, one beetle and one stone at a time.—Jane Wong, author of Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City

Jory Mickelson's first book, WILDERNESS//KINGDOM, is winner of a 2020 High Plains Book Award. Their third book PICTURING (End of the Line Press) will be out in 2025. They are the recipient of fellowships from the Lambda Literary Foundation, The Desert Rat Writers Residency, Dear Butte, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico. They live and write in Bellingham, WA.