by Annie Connole
 
The Spring is a book-length lyric essay that examines grief and transformation through the lens of mystical animal appearances following the death of the narrator’s partner.
 
Traversing the wild landscapes of the American West, prose and photography combine to create a lucid, dream-like vision of visitations and allegorical animal encounters with Snake, Owl, and Dragonfly, among others.  The Spring tells a stirring, elegiac tale of death, love, rebirth, survival, and resilience.
 
"Annie Connole's The Spring is a remarkable debut. By turns raw and mystical, steeped in loss but also reconciliation, it is a book that challenges our preconceptions, in regard to content and form. Connole is a poet in essayist's clothing; her language ripples and burns. Even more, she has an open heart, and she does not hold back. Elliptical, pointed, unrelenting, this is a work of astonishing power." -- David L. Ulin, author of Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles
 
Annie Connole is a writer living in the Mojave Desert.  She was born and raised in the rocky highlands of Helena, Montana.  Annie received a BA from The New School where she studied art and philosophy and an MFA in Creative Writing from University of California Riverside - Palm Desert.  Her work has appeared in literary journals including The Rumpus.