I would like to extend a sincere thank you to NetGalley and Ecco Books for the ARC of Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s gorgeous collection “Night Owl.” It is very appreciated!

This volume of poetry is a treasure. Aimee Nezhukumatathil is a gifted writer; I loved her book “World of Wonders.” This is her first volume of poetry I have read, and I intend to read all of the others.

Her poems are elegantly crafted. In these lines from “Nocturne for Dark Things,” she writes: “I do my finest listening in the dark/ My best friend has always been ink/ and she lets me talk so much at night./ One of the marvels of my life-/ an alphabet. A whole green and mossy/ world can be made and remade/ from just twenty-six dark curlicues.” These words define my own love of words and writing.

In “Pillow Talk Ars Poetica,” she says: “When twilight ends, I walk through a cloud of perfume […] What began was a glorious night not meant for sleep. When we first danced, I wrote a paragraph of leopard steps all over the tiled floor until I remembered I also held a roar. And then-I wrote a book.”

Nezhukumatathil writes imagery with an artist’s pen: “Once, we held our own universe in the morning rain;” and “If you don’t eat/ a nectarine outdoors while you squint/ in the sun, and a few drops of juice/ land on your shirt, can you really say/ it’s summer?” The poem titles themselves are enchanting, such as “When You Are Near, I Turn into a Baja Fairy Duster at Night,” and “Firefly Nocturne.”

Her poem “For Elephant Poachers: An Invective” is a moving plea to protect the giants of the earth, and “What If Medusa” demands justice for all women: “There are no published accounts of Medusa ever turning another woman into stone./ Not a single woman./ What if Medusa was someone who simply learned/ to fight back against those who would harm her?/ Who gets to call whom a monster?” Who indeed?

She writes of horrific incidents of racism she has experienced, justly pointing out that none of the episodes of racism and violence she has experienced were at the hands of people of color. All of her attackers have been white men. “So,” she says, “forgive me if I laugh at your fear and hatred of brown immigrants, or when you say immigrants are a danger to the fabric of our country.” Despite this, her love for her country, her parents’ adopted country, shows in her words: “In an olive grove, you can hate/ the fruit and still love its light.” The United States is a place of beauty, she seems to say, even if the people are ugly. And in “American Tenderness,” she says, “I was born from a snapdragon-from a burst of seeds knocked clean by a rabbit escaping a fox.” She is here, born in this country, and her thoughts and words burst forth to enrich the lives and minds of others.

I cannot praise this book enough. Nezhukumatathil’s writing touches the heart and opens the soul. I copied so much of this into my commonplace book so I can refer back to it because these poems breathe, they are alive and vibrant. Aimee Nezhukumatathil is a writer for the soul of humanity.