Horse Not Zebra - by Eric Nelson (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Horse Not Zebra, we learn in the title poem of this collection, refers to advice given to medical students-to look first to "the common, not the exotic" when diagnosing patients. Eric Nelson embraces that advice in his poems, exploring the common rituals of daily life-family interactions, gardening, long walks with or without dogs, even the clomp of a neighbor's boots can be, for him, a call to attention. He acknowledges the darker moments of history he has lived through and faces intimations of his own mortality, yet persists in doing the hard work of learning how to laugh. His poems invite us to find joy in the quotidian and a way to "sing ourselves beyond ourselves."

-Grace Bauer

Review Quotes

Eric Nelson is one of the great walker-poets. Along with Wordsworth, Whitman, and Frank O'Hara, he conjures, engages with, and praises his world of daily walks with his dog and his life at home with his family. As the title suggests, he focuses on the ordinary rather than the exotic-the horse, not the zebra. Out of humble encounters Nelson summons the mysteries of memory and metaphor and the "spontaneous evolving shrine(s)" that show up on the path for those who are alert and looking.

-Maggie Anderson, Dear All

These wonderful poems capture perfectly, and distinctively, a sensibility very much of our time: witty, yearning, a little battered. They're rich with insights both tough-minded and humane. Eric Nelson's quiet narratives, his zinger images, his direct and yet surprising lingo-these will charm you, and they'll feed your mind and soul. I've followed his work for decades and (this is saying a lot) I say, Horse Not Zebra is his best book yet.

-Jeanne Larsen, What Penelope Chooses