Newly published: “Presences” by Caroline Collins

March 31, 2014
"Presences" by Caroline Collins, published by Parallel Press
Presences by Caroline Collins
(Parallel Press, 2014)

Parallel Press, an imprint of the UW–Madison Libraries, is pleased to announce the publication of Presences, a new collection of poetry by Caroline Collins ($10.00, Parallel Press, 2014).

In these luminous poems, the landscape of the the Illinois prairie and Mississippi bluffs is alive with the memory of the native people who lived and died there. In the flight of a hawk or the vista from effigy mounds above the river, autumn wind carries “the cries of small pups, the voice/of a young girl at play . . . /the breathless notes of wooden flutes/in the creaking trees.” In a few of the poems, Collins channels the voices of Black Hawk, the Indian agent and a general who fought him, creating a powerful and haunting lament on the ravages of Manifest Destiny, finally encouraging us with the evocative language of the land to “to believe/what the old ones say, that the earth/remembers us.”

Born and raised in Illinois, Caroline Collins received a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing and a doctorate in nineteenth century American literature from the University of Arkansas. Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous scholastic and belletristic journals. She and her husband, poet and literary critic Floyd Collins, live in Cuthbert, Georgia. She teaches writing and literature at Andrew College.

Presences is available for purchase through Parallel Press for $10.00. Discounts are provided for libraries, booksellers, and non-profit organizations.

Questions? Contact Parallel Press: 608-262-1433 or parallelpress@library.wisc.edu.