Water the Rocks Make [Paperback]

The poems ofWater the Rocks Makecommit into words the turbulence of emotion and thought stirred up by life’s events: family trauma, psychiatric instability, the legal system, the death of a loved one, identity, cultural displacement, work, loss, creativity, and through everything, love.
 
Set primarily in Alaska, where author David McElroy has lived most of his life, the real action in these poems is in thought—the mind coming to terms (words) with consciousness, the mixing and rendering of reality and imagination. McElroy delves down the many rapid turns toward meaning through these contemplations on personification of a long-tailed boat in Asia; Adam tasked with naming the creatures; synthesizing the agony of accident, disease, and death; Descartes musing about an oilfield bridge; the excitement of sensual love; or the history and creativity emerging from a landfill.
 
There is sadness here, but through the rigorous manipulation of imagery, rhythm, and sound,Water the Rocks Makestrives to “…contribute their daily/ details in our remarkable trick of happiness…to rise from the mulch/ of dreams like seedling teak goofy with life/ and floppy leaves.”
 

David McElroyis a retired commercial pilot of small planes in the Arctic and a former smokejumper, fisherman, taxi driver, and English teacher. He is the author of three books of poetry,Making It Simple,Mark Making, andJust Between Us, and been published in regional and national journals such asAlaska Quarterly Review,Cirque,Anteaus,Poetry Northwest, andChicago Review.