Beasts in Snow: Poetry of the American West

Beasts in Snow: Poetry of the American West

By Jane Elkington Wohl

In language softly burnished to a fine luster, Jane Wohl’s poems transform the ordinary into moments of resonant beauty. Her keen eye misses no detail—be it the recording of a crushed robin’s egg on the sidewalk, or the tag on a woman’s skirt. These poems are filled with song and compelling narrative, and are an absolute pleasure to read.

Wohl is an instructor at Sheridan College in Wyoming and in the Goddard College MFA in Writing program in Vermont.

• • 0-931271-79-7 • 72 pages • trade paper with jacket • $12.95 ORDER NOW
• • 0-931271-78-9 • limited edition hardcover • $20.00ORDER NOW

Beasts in Snow: Poetry of the American West

By Jane Elkington Wohl

“Beasts in Snow is the work of a poet who experiences her world much like a worm—instead of using her eyes, Jane Wohl sees through her skin. Images exist because she has felt them—the weight of scallions in her hand is as significant as the weight of words on a page. The questions that this book raises—for example, ‘how much does a skeleton of the hand change from person to person?’—made me slow my pace, contemplate neglected parts of my body, my world, in distinct and delicate ways.”
•• Elena Georgiou, Mercy Mercy Me

Jane Elkington Wohl

Jane Wohl didn't realize she was a poet until she moved to Wyoming in 1978 when the combination of motherhood and an unforgiving, but compelling, landscape grabbed hold of her and shook the words out. She has been writing ever since.

Now she realizes that she probably always had a poet’s mind, but until she came to Wyoming her creativity had emerged through music, dance, and visual art. Her poetic influences start with Rudyard Kipling read to her by her father. Kipling’s lyrical prose rolled around in her head until she committed large chunks to memory.

Although she wrote some poems as a teenager (who doesn't?), it was the bleak and beautiful Wyoming landscape and the joy and pain of rearing children that brought the poetry back to her.