Still Life with Towel and Sand

Throughout one gets a sense of a calm that comes before or after a storm. Beneath, behind, or above these poetic gestures of moments on the shore is another world made more vivid by its distance. The miracle is that even when she isn't speaking explicitly of this other world, Moeller somehow confronts it head on, allowing it to reveal itself and all the darkness it may hold while at the same time never ceasing to revel in the beauty of her immediate surroundings. Indeed, Still Life with Towel and Sand is a book to be cherished wherever you are.

-Jose Padua, author of A Short History of Monsters



Still Life with Towel and Sand rooted me in the most profound way to sea and sky and all the mystery they represent. These poems hold a sharp-edged nostalgia but also hope for the future, recognizing the bittersweet gifts of motherhood and family while demanding that we see and mark the beauty of our lives. Despite the "nowhere itself" of fog rising, Moeller teaches us to "follow that piece of color and light, through the garden." Despite losses, the moments of connection are thrilling and sustaining, whether they take place between the speaker and a whale or between lovers. This is a beautifully crafted and incisive collection that made me ache in all the right ways.

-Heather L. Davis, author of The Lost Tribe of Us, winner of the Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award



Eileen Moeller's Still Life with Towel and Sand takes us on a lifetime of visits to the ocean's shore with all its 'enormous mystery.' This collection is an album of resonant snapshots: 'blackberry years' where lithe girls age into mothers, parents grow impatient on hot beach days, and grandmothers pick through memories. We spy on diners at the next table, and the small fisherman who displays his catch 'like a lighthouse beaming.' Moeller reminds us that 'each of us is a small boat' on the horizon. And while the seaside beckons, we 'get our bearings' then leave, 'sad but full of longing to get back home.' You will want to linger over these poems, awash with gratitude, salt-air memories, and poetic vision.

-Jane Edna Mohler, author of Broken Umbrellas, and Poetry Editor of Schuylkill Valley Journal