The Trees Are Above and Below Me, by Eden Solomon

Poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

In the clearing of a forest – trees clustered along a riverbank. The roots unfurl down into the water, tangled but still visible through the murky blue-green surface. Above, the branches reach skyward. The trees are above and below you, the roots steadying, the branches stretching out and away. In the water’s reflection, they weave together, each curve and knot somehow repeated, each shadow unknowable from the next.

In the collected poetry and prose featured in The Trees Are Above and Below Me, Eden Solomon captures the hidden intimacies of the present while also delving into the unknowability of the past – readers are invited to travel from one place to the next; from city to city, moment to moment, often hovering between what is said and what remains quiet. Delineations between the romantic and platonic are obscured and lines of family and heritage are traced as Eden explores the personal and interpersonal through brief fictional episodes and sprawling poetic narratives. In essence, Eden’s writing is both plaintive and hopeful – however brief, The Trees Are Above and Below Me captures the transient, and often melancholic, relationship between both self and other.

Eden Solomon is a twenty-two year old writer originally from Brooklyn, NY. The granddaughter of immigrants, Eden attributes her love of storytelling to her family’s rich tradition of learning the world through both the written and spoken word. She received her BFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, and currently resides in Cambridge, MA. The Trees Are Above and Below Me is her first chapbook.