Women in Tampa Talking About Alligators

Book Launch: 6 PM June 24, Broadway Books, Portland, Oregon

Flowing along the subtropical waterways and rooted in the happenstance of our day-to-day experiences, award-winning poet Heather Sellers’ latest poetry collection, Women in Tampa Talking About Alligators, presents radiant portraits of the people — and creatures — that she encounters in her wonderfully weird home state of Florida.

Drawn from the author’s daily observation journals, the collection’s sun-struck, open-hearted poems eavesdrop on conversations among neighbors and follow the quirky behaviors of humans—and other interesting animals—throughout the course of a year in The Sunshine State. And as increasingly powerful hurricanes brew in the background, the reader experiences fresh compassion for the fragile lives carved out of a fragile landscape. In the end, Sellers assures us that paying close attention, noticing wildness in the ordinary, and ultimately, tending our connections to each other, is what will see us through.