In the Bone-Cracking Cold

Immersed in the rugged beauty and complex history of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, M. Bartley Seigel steers his second poetry collection through the terrain of the tangible and the mythical to capture the essence of the region's mining towns and dense forests and the vastness of Lake Superior. With a striking and unpretentious voice, Seigel unravels the complexities of love and loss, the legacy of colonialism, and the deep bond between nature, people, and place. Poems like "Beach Glass" highlight Seigel's lyricism, while his series of sonnets and a variety of open forms reveal joyfully flexible innovation. Throughout, his poems remain hopeful regardless of uncertainty and curious despite the threat of apathy, inviting readers to connect with a landscape as iconic as it is misunderstood.