Penguin Noir

Penguin Noir offers “a view of life under a man-made ego-system,” The Sea of Wonders, in which poet Nicelle Davis queries the implications of preserving (penguin) lives when the world that would support them is becoming unlivable and our relationship to them increasingly mediated (“So many images of nature, we struggle ever to make it outside”). Wry, yearning, exasperated, this play-in-verse with bold paintings by artist Cheryl Gross and dramatic monologues of individual Emperor, Gentoo, and other penguins dares us to look penguins (and, by extension, the world) in the eye and ‘fess up to the mess we’ve made. Sharp, eviscerating wit will keep you rubbernecking the spectacle Davis walks us through. — Elizabeth Bradfield, author of Toward Antarctica and Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry