In This Burning World

Overview

In This Burning World: Poems of Love and Apocalypse offers readers 64 new, beautifully-written, profound poems by Mary Mackey, winner of the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award for Best Book in the United States Published by a Small Press. In this stunning collection, Mackey unflinchingly imagines the future we will face as the Earth’s climate changes, while at the same time offering readers inspiring poems that describe how mutual aid and love can preserve hope and joy in even the most difficult of times.

Reviews

"[Mackey's] poems are invested with the sacred energy of the natural world whose destruction she can’t endure. Her book is incandescent. You won’t forget it."—D. Nurske,  author of A Country of Strangers

“Mary Mackey’s poems are powerful, beautiful, and have extraordinary range. May her concern for the planet help save it.”—Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Woman Warrior

"[Mackey's] new book In This Burning World has such power and beauty it would make any god envious.”"[Mackey's] new book In This Burning World has such power and beauty it would make any god envious.”—Rafael Jesús González, First Poet Laureate of Berkeley, CA​

“Mary Mackey is a national treasure.”—Tulsa Book Review​

“The poems in Mackey’s In This Burning World are stunning. Intensely lyrical, profound, brilliantly written, and always accessible, they ask us not only to imagine what the world will be like as the climate of the Earth changes, but how we can preserve joy and compassion in times of catastrophe. These are poems written by a poet at the height of her powers.”—Pamela Berkman, author of Her Infinite Variety and The Falling

“Mackey’s crisp-edged perceptions are set down with a sensuous, compassionate, and utterly unflinching eye.”—Jane Hirshfield, Former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and author of The Asking: New and Selected Poems​

“Mackey’s poems crackle with powerful, lush energy.” —Marge Piercy, author and poet

“Mary Mackey’s poem “The Kama Sutra of Kindness: Position Number 2: White Birches is one of the most magnificent poems ever written, and one of the most beautiful poems in English.”—Hillary Frasier Hayes, poet





 

Author Biography

Mary Mackey became a writer by running high fevers, tramping through tropical jungles, and reading. She is the author of 8 poetry collections, including Sugar Zone, winner of a PEN Award and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award for Best Book Published by a Small Press. Her poetry has been praised by Wendell Berry, Jane Hirshfield, D. Nurkse, Al Young, Daniel Lawless, Rafael Jesús González, and Maxine Hong Kingston for its beauty, precision, originality, and extraordinary range. She is also the author of 14 novels.