Axial Garlands

Zach Zollo is a Providence, Rhode Island-based chef, music blogger, and poet who released his first book, This Ain’t No Wine Country, in 2022. With a queer perspective and a rich vocabulary, his work is by turns abstract and conversational, influenced by Barbara Guest, Denis Johnson, and Shel Silverstein. Zollo writes intricately-worded free verse, rhyme, and concrete poetry alike; rather than satisfy a particular technical form, his style aims to capture the emotion of each work as it demands itself to be portrayed.

He crafted his second book, Axial Garlands, as a collection of four seasonal poetry cycles. Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer inspire Harvest Gales, Icicle Shards, Milkweed Reign, and Tidal Zephyrs. Rather than focus on the pastoral, Zollo traces the shifts in emotional weather that accompany the passing of solstices and equinoxes; as days go by, the world decays into brutish cold, then rebirths itself again in love and wonder. Together, the 86 brief component works form a poet’s almanac, charting the seasons within and without the author throughout a year in the life. - Taylor Ruckle

Edition of 50.
90 pages.