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9781956907292

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There are few poets who make me want to keep reading the way Seaton does-with humor and charm, she writes about the place, the Gulf of Mexico, mental health, daily life, and the universal healing of bullies. This book feels like a friend placing their hand on your shoulder as you arrive into a landscape of palm trees, saying: Look-see this, sea this. Maureen Seaton may be gone, but she's still alive in these poems-how lucky we were to have her on this planet writing, how lucky we are to have these poems. -Kelli Russell Agodon, author of Accidental Devotions Maureen Seaton's voice is a singular, luminous gift to American poetry. The poems in Undersea are tender, funny, sad, and poignant, often at the same time. Seaton examines and transforms the ways she sees herself and her surroundings; those she has loved and lost and still loves through their loss; the Florida whose sea she feels ""in the channels of her own bones"" and the Florida that ""crashes into you"" with its red tides, mold, heat, and humidity. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about these poems is the pervading sense of joy that lights the reader's way, glimmering even in the saddest moments, ""more than a spark, but like a spark, full of fire."" I will return to this book again and again. -Emma Bolden, author of The Tiger and the Cage Maureen's last name contains the ""sea,"" a fun fact she utilizes in these briny exploits of brilliance and wonder. ""Salt"" (""fifty poems in the same spot with the same view, for four hours"") gives you a sense of her commitment and play. In Undersea, she finds love amidst oranges, avocados, pirates, mermaids, kelp, lizards, and pelicans. All pay tribute to Seaton's carpe diem, her life that sings to us, immerses us, even though she is gone. -Denise Duhamel, author of Pink Lady Wit, wisdom, and a winky oneness with the world. This is what we've come to expect from the late Maureen Seaton. In a series of free-verse and fractured prose poems that are both epistolary and confessional, she invokes hauntings that come and go like tides...Seaton's Undersea pushes the poetic envelope. -Jen Karetnick, author of Inheritance with a High Error Rate This rapturous collection roils the waters and bursts from the depths, dazzling us as only Maureen Seaton can. -Mia Leonin, author of Fable of the Pack-Saddle Child Maureen's work is an invitation ""to love the sea back,"" as she says-to travel through life with humor and love. It invites us to see this beautiful ephemeral world for all its wonders, its losses, and its mysteries-to look with wide eyes and ride life's thrilling knife-edge with her. -Catherine Esposito Prescott, author of Accidental Garden In Undersea, Maureen Seaton dives headfirst into the surreal and sublime, surfacing with poems that shimmer with heartbreak, humor, and wild, unfiltered wonder. Seaton's voice is quirky, precise, and unafraid. Once you've entered her undersea universe, you may never want to come up for air. -Mike Puican, author of Central Air In Undersea, award-winning poet Maureen Seaton takes us on a wild, genre-bending journey of storytelling-where the sea and salt come alive and we are transported to the speaker's beloved South Florida. While she may no longer be with us in body, Undersea reminds us that Maureen and her magical words live on in these pages. This book is a treasure. -Nicole Tallman, author of Dolce Vita/Let There Be a Little Light

Author Information

Maureen Seaton (1947-2023) was a celebrated American poet, memoirist, and educator known for her vibrant, surrealist style and pioneering work in collaborative poetry. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, she earned her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and authored over fifteen solo poetry collections, including Furious Cooking, Sweet World, and Undersea. Her memoir, Sex Talks to Girls, won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir.Seaton co-authored more than a dozen poetry books with fellow writers such as Denise Duhamel, Samuel Ace, and Neil de la Flor, and co-edited the influential anthology Saints of Hysteria: A Half-Century of Collaborative American Poetry. Her work garnered numerous accolades, including the Iowa Poetry Prize, Audre Lorde Award, Pushcart Prizes, and fellowships from the NEA and Illinois Arts Council.She taught creative writing at Columbia College Chicago and the University of Miami, where she served as Director of the Creative Writing Program. Voted Miami's Best Poet in 2020, Seaton remained a vital force in American poetry until her passing in Longmont, Colorado.

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