The liquid of language,

Can come to nothing, words,

Sound, song strung along the taut tendon

from On the Death in Alaska of Marie Smith Jones, last speaker of Eyak,

Recent Publications

What Remains

A new book of poems from Michael Ansara published in 2022 by Kelsay Books

In Michael Ansara's What Remains we encounter a world we sometimes forget in the incessant chatter of our mediated culture; we are reminded of our creatureliness, our vulnerability, and our humanity. These are poems in which eros, in its fullest earthly sense, is joined to emotion, and passion issues as tenderness. Whether he is considering the feel of life as a child, as a parent, as a husband, as a citizen, Ansara's poems insist that "what remains" has much to teach us. I have learned much from these poems; so will you.

Richard Hoffman, Author of Noon until Night

What Remains is a wondrous first collection from poet, essayist, activist, and organizer Michael Ansara. Language lifts off the pages of these poems that celebrate a rich, full life, filled with family, nature, love, and loss. This book is an exploration into what it means to be present in the world: Vast, undulating, / Pulled by the unseen / Weight of the moon. Tough, gritty, tender, and intimate, What Remains is the strongest debut collection I’ve read in a very long time. What a joy to hold these poems in my hands and my heart.

January Gill O’Neil, Author of Rewilding

Michael Ansara has been such a good citizen, and has cared so much about other people's poetry, it's important to remember what a good poet he is himself. The poems here are heartbreakingly aware of mortality and injustice--yet they are also open to love and nature, beauty and the beauty of language (“the feel of fat against the top of the tongue”). I'm grateful that Michael Ansara cares about poetry. I'm equally grateful that he writes it. 

Lloyd Schwartz, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author of Who’s on First?: New and Selected Poems

 

 

About

Founder of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Michael Ansara’s first book of poems, “What Remains”, was published by Kelsay Books in 2022. Michael spent many years as an activist and an organizer starting with the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, going on to be a regional organizer for SDS. He spent 10 years organizing opposition to the war in Vietnam. For 15 years, Michael worked as a community organizer including directing Mass Fair Share. He has worked on political campaigns, coordinated voter registration efforts, and trained many organizers. He owned and ran two successful businesses. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Redress Movement and the organizing team for Together We Elect. His poems have appeared in numerous journals and his essays have appeared in Vox, Arrowsmith, Solstice and Cognoscenti. He is currently working on a memoir. He lives in Carlisle, MA, with his wife Barbara Arnold and dotes on his three children and six grandchildren.

Poems & Essays