A Search for Human Influences on the Thermal Structure of the Atmosphere

At the intersection of science and the sublime—of the human brain and the human habitat—you’ll find Allison Lindquist’s A Search for Human Influences on the Thermal Structure of the Atmosphere. These intricate poems explore the living wonders of their environment with a traveler’s observant eye and a partner’s gentle hand. And in each leafy portrait she sketches, the poet uncovers flickering fragments of herself—here, “where the reflection of tree is more real / than trees themselves.” There’s the impulse to preserve at the same time as she unearths, to make whole what she vivisects. She confesses: “I’m uninspired and afraid for the bleached corals / and the cancer cure that is in an extinct / species of snake on an island off Brazil.” Has too much damage already been done? And in turn, what does that endanger in us? “Holding me will not keep me safe, / will not help you to memorize me,” the poet tells us. But at least in these poems, she is able to archive this season in the late Anthropocene. She bottles up whatever is left to salvage and still finds some brackish beauty in the remains.