All Things Holy and Heathen

Chelsea Jackson's debut collection, All Things Holy and Heathen, cycles through life, death, violation, and reclamation, blurring the lines between past and present, human and animal, and sacred and profane. This timely collection threads narrative, myth, and memory to take us to both well-known and far-reaching places: from a reimagined Garden of Eden to Jupiter's formidable, yet dying, Great Red Spot; from the last breaths of a poached giraffe to lonely cities whose songs are a cacophony of subway rail rattles and church bells. All the while, Jackson challenges us to look at the monster-gods we create both outside of and within ourselves.

The result is a collection brimming with lament and rage at how our obsession with power and righteousness divides us from ourselves, one another, and the earth. And yet, joy, hope, and softness are woven into these verses, and revival, though found in unexpected places, is never far off. Using bold imagery and fresh storytelling, Jackson accompanies the reader through questions, realities, and wonderings, encouraging us to envision those personal and collective possibilities we've never let ourselves claim.

Full of compassion, courage, and imagination, All Things Holy and Heathen is a delicious and daring collection that invites us to question all we think we know so we may reclaim ourselves, rebuild our fractured world, and nurture a revived earth, "one that glows like a fresh secret/ like a flashlight under a heavy quilt."