When the Ocean Comes to Me, by Alex Gurtis

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

When the Ocean Comes to Me is a collection dripping with the anxiety of the Anthropocene. Salt water rises along Florida’s coast as inhabitants watch a clock’s “hands chase each other/ along their predestined path.”

These poems meditate on how “education is a type of trauma” and ask how we can cope with the knowledge that our planet is changing before our eyes. Imagist studies of built environments come unraveled as late-stage capitalism erodes cities and natural landscapes alike.

"Alex Gurtis is a skilled poet with a deft eye. In When the Ocean Comes to Me, he threads issues on many people’s minds right now: the environment, personal relationships, and how to make a living because What is an economy where a credit card rejects a Diet Coke? Gurtis takes these issues seriously but has a knack for the playful turn of phrase and image as Denim works 9-5 and 8-12. / Denim doesn’t sleep. He uses wit to tie capitalism's destructive tendencies to the natural landscape, specifically focusing on hurricanes in Florida. His poems look directly at the rainbands and meditate in the storm's eye. This artful work reminds us we can learn just as much about ourselves from the quiet moments as we can from those filled with the most noise."

—Tyler Gillespie, author of Florida Man

Alex Gurtis is a poet and critic whose work has appeared in Autofocus, Barrelhouse, Hobart After Dark, Rejection Letters, and The Shore among others. A ruth weiss Foundation Maverick Poet Award Finalist, Alex received his MFA from the University of Central Florida. He is the co-founder of Zeppelin Books. You can find Alex on Instagram at apbg_alex or Twitter at @alexgurtis