Held: Essays in Belonging [Paperback]

From award-winning author Kathryn Nuernberger,Heldis a collection of essays about mutualisms, mutual aid, and ways of being together in a time of climate crisis.

Here is a collection about living in and with the consequences of terrible mistakes—Heldcontemplates our collective experiences of loss in an age of climate change and mass extinctions, as well as more personal tragedies. Each essay in this book describes a remarkable instance of symbiotic mutualism: bobtail squid host glow-in-the-dark bacteria behind their eyes so they can camouflage with moonlight on the water; there is a surprisingly erotic encounter between ants and a rove beetle; beavers and willow trees together turn deserts to verdant wetlands; and many more. To readHeldis to be reminded of one’s humanity and of our interconnectedness with the world that surrounds us.USKathryn Nuernberger is the author of the poetry collections,RUE, The End of Pink,andRag & Bone. She has also written the essay collectionsThe Witch of EyeandBrief Interviews with the Romantic Past. Her awards include the James Laughlin Prize from the Academy of American Poets, an NEA fellowship, and “notable” essays in theBest Americanseries. Her co-authored textbook with Maya Jewell Zeller isAdvanced Poetry: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology. She teaches in the MFA program at University of Minnesota.

Nuernberger preaches the 'aesthetics of salvage' tenderly in this collection of lyric essays. This book showcases a poet and scholar's heart on the road, in an effort to hold 'increasingly fragile ecosystems together' in the face of tragedy. Held is a meditation on grief, and the tendrils of time, an exploration of how we are connected to all that has been and will be. 
—Kao Kalia Yang, author of Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother’s Life

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