Ascent of the Mothers

Ascent of the Mothers

Noelle Kocot’s ninth collection, Ascent of the Mothers , is a sagacious testament to the ways in which poetry can shape personhood.   “I am nothing” they write, “Or else I have made myself / Too big for words.” The scope of this book is marked by Kocot’s psychic journey punctuated by a near-fatal car crash, which elicited a new understanding of their spirituality and gender nonconforming identity. Generous, self-aware, and resilient, Ascent of the Mothers is a treasure to behold and be shared. These poems catalyze the reader to take pause and contemplate the sorrow and wonder of being human. — Publishers Weekly - If this was Woodstock, Kocot was Hendrix. I have been to countless readings since but can think of only a few as unexpected, memorable, and moving.— Justin Taylor, Poetry Foundation - Noelle Kocot’s poems are like sunlight coming through a window. — Stephanie Sy-Quia, The White Review - There seem to be a few noteworthy poets in every generation, those who channel the zeitgeist from a clarifying distance, an artful remove. Noelle Kocot may well belong to this tradition... — Amy Newlove Schroeder, Boston Review - Kocot’s gift as a poet is being able to explain such complexity with such uncompromised frankness. — David Peak, The Rumpus - Kocot’s creativity engenders an excitement comparable to being twelve years old, exposed to good poetry or music or art for the first time, and knowing that, for better or worse, things have been bent. — Nick Sturm, Coldfront Magazine Noelle Kocot  (they/them) is the author of many collections of poetry, including  God's Green Earth  (Wave Books, 2020),  Phantom Pains of Madness  (Wave Books, May 2016),  Soul in Space  (Wave Books, 2013),  The Bigger World  (Wave Books, 2011), and a book of translations of some of the poems of Tristan Corbière,  Poet by Default  (Wave Books, 2011). Their previous works include the discography  Damon's Room , (Wave Books Pamphlet Series, 2010),  Sunny Wednesday  (Wave Books, 2009) and  Poem for the End of Time and Other Poems  (Wave Books, 2006). They are also the author of  4  and  The Raving Fortune  (both from Four Way Books). Their poems have been anthologized in  Best American Poetry  in 2001, 2012, and 2013. They are the recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Academy of American Poets, The Fund for Poetry, the  American Poetry Review , and a residency fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. Kocot has taught at the University of Texas New Writers' Project and currently teaches in the Creative Writing Department at the New School. They live in New Jersey and are the Poet Laureate of Pemberton Borough. The Animals     The warmest winter storm now over, My splendid chamber all in disarray. As I go on inventing myself, as the  Audience is fewer and fewer, I would   Say I was struck by memory, and the  Haze of what swells and collapses, nothing But grace and a few lines to form a shape. The opera’s pulse, a flower left out for   Us. The undulant doves carrying messages In their mouths, number upon number Of slow and patient animals. How selfless They are, and how loving, living in perfect   Fulfilment with their precise expressions Of tireless faith, wishing us all so well.