Splitting the Velvet Dark: Poems

WINNER of the 2014 Mary Ballard Poetry Chapbook Prize. The poems in Splitting the Velvet Dark cover the life of a wife and mother struggling with depression and anxiety. They speak of the transcendence felt by planting strawberries to avoid a breakdown, and the peace that comes from driving a green Plymouth through the countryside. "Elaine Mott is a poet of accuracy and reverence. Her poems, ceremonial and intense, are grounded in city life and garden life, in the cycles of nature and emotion. Her voice is genuine and immediate. We hear it with the sense she is right next to us, singing directly to us." -- Sharon Olds, winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry "Splitting the Velvet Dark is a gift to us from Elaine Mott, who left behind a book to guide us through our days, to help us elevate our lives beyond the humdrum straight into the supernatural. I love this book and I love this poet. She is brave and strong and clear-headed. I thank her for a book to take with me throughout my life," -- Dorothea Lasky, Professor, Columbia School of the Arts, and Author, Thunderbird