In Small Earthly Space, poet Marjorie Maddox and photographer Karen Elias explore our connection with and responsibility to the imaginative and geographical locations we call home. Inspired by the curlew that appears in Ali Smith's lyrical novel, Companion Piece, Maddox and Elias envision a journey that begins and ends with that "long-billed bird" that forages for the "unexpected / unearthed in murky dreams . . . ." When our planetary conditions render even the saints tongue-tied and stuttering, the bird appears as guide, as psychopomp, as Beatrice in a kind of Dantean descent. The journey the curlew initiates requires that we grow humble enough to pass through the smallest of doors, that we confront both regret and ecological devastation, that we experience "the long, slow burn of loss." But the journey is not without hope. As the poet asks: "What if IF still exists?" What might happen if we "delete the expected ending" and "claim . . . the urgent adverb of now"? The last sections of the book take us to those small, earthly spaces that we now visit with fresh eyes, watching as the mists rise over the hills, as the poppy-both symbol and brilliant-petaled flower-reveals the "intoxication of possibility."
Elias, Karen: - After teaching college English for 40 years, Dr. Karen Elias is now an artist/activist, using photography to record the beauty and fragility of the natural world and to raise awareness about climate change. Her work is in private collections, has been exhibited in several galleries, and has won numerous awards. She is a member of the Clinton County PA Arts Council where she serves as curator of the annual juried photography exhibit. In addition to Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For, collaborations with Maddox have appeared in such literary, arts, or medical humanities journals as About Place, Cold Mountain Review, The Ekphrastic Review, The Other Journal, Glint, Ekstasis, Valiant Scribe, and Ars Medica. Elias, also a playwright, has had work chosen by the Climate Change Theatre Action and staged in 8 countries.
Maddox, Marjorie: - Professor Emerita of English and Creative Writing at the Lock Haven campus of Commonwealth University, Marjorie Maddox has published 16 collections of poetry-including How Can I Look It Up When I Don't Know How It's Spelled? Spelling Mnemonics and Grammar Tricks (Kelsay Books 2024) and Seeing Things (Wildhouse 2025), as well as Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation (Yellowglen Prize); Begin with a Question (International Book and Illumination Book Award winner); and the Shanti Arts ekphrastic collaborations Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For (with photographer Karen Elias) and In the Museum of My Daughter's Mind, featuring work with her artist daughter, Anna Lee Hafer (www.hafer.work), and including work by Karen Elias, Margaret Munz-Losch, Antar Mikosz, Greg Mort, Ingo Swann, and Christian Twamley. In the Museum of My Daughter's Mind was awarded the 2023 Dragonfly Book Award in the photography/fine arts category and honorable mention in the poetry category. Hover Here (Broadstone 2025) is forthcoming. In addition, Maddox has published the story collection What She Was Saying (Fomite) and 4 children's and YA books. With Jerry Wemple, she is co-editor of Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania and Keystone Poetry: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (PSU Press) and is assistant editor of Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry. She hosts the radio show Poetry Moment at WPSU-FM. www.marjoriemaddox.com
