Fallow Harvest, by Taylor Pate

Poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Fallow Harvest is a chapbook of 15 poems that delve into the complex emotions surrounding an abusive relationship and the echoes of generational trauma. Through vivid, surreal imagery, Taylor Pate navigates the terrain of self-loss, entrapment, and the struggle for escape, all while confronting the painful inheritance of familial history. These poems chart the deep, existential journey of searching for meaning in the midst of overwhelming darkness—an emotional landscape where reality is fractured, and identity is tested. The work captures the subtle violence of relationships and the persistent, haunting memories that shape and define a person’s sense of self.

Blending nature and symbolism, Fallow Harvest uses the language of the natural world to give voice to trauma, love, loss, and the quest for healing. From the imagery of moths feeding on a wedding dress to the endless cycles of storms, the poems evoke a visceral sense of being caught in a perpetual state of longing and displacement. Themes of escape and rebirth permeate the collection, as the narrator pushes against the weight of history, seeking solace in the most unexpected places. Whether it’s the image of planting strawberries in the rotting barn or the quiet whisper of wind urging the narrator forward, the poems reflect a yearning for freedom and transformation.

At its heart, Fallow Harvest is a meditation on survival and self discovery, exploring how the past clings to the present and how the scars of yesterday shape the person we become. The fractured nature of the poems mirrors the disjointed process of healing and unravelling the tangled threads of the past. Pate’s evocative use of language and metaphor compels the reader to confront the inherited wounds that so often go unnoticed, ultimately seeking the possibility of breaking free from the cycles of trauma. The collection, while heavy with sorrow, holds the faintest glimmer of hope—through the act of acknowledging the past, healing becomes a tangible, though uncertain, path forward.

Taylor Pate is a visual artist and writer from Appalachia whose work explores the cultural and natural landscapes of her region through myth, folklore, and the rural female experience. By sewing personal narrative to collective history, she creates a self mythology that brings these stories to light. Her practice examines how identity is shaped by the interplay of place, tradition, and memory. Pate holds an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.