The poems in Under the Tail of the Milky Way Galaxy were written after Ethel Mortenson Davis moved from New Mexico back to her home state of Wisconsin. As an artist Davis's work is filled with movement and intense colors that involve the viewer with an intense imagery. Her poetry is, in a lot of ways, like her pastels. It is compressed, intense, visual, and, ultimately, memorable. John Looker, one of Britains greatest poets, said of this, Davis's fifth book, "Here is a harvest of finely-judged lyrical poems that express a joy in the natural world. Carefully observed and beautifully expressed, they are not merely nature poems, however. Ethel Mortenson Davis has a deep reverence for nature, coupled with sadness at humankind's frequent indifference. There are moments of striking insight as, for example, in this reference to the tree snail or slug: "trails of lubricant/ caught by sunlight/ in a mathematical moment". Elsewhere there are equivocal judgments about her own species, as when she tells a rescued animal, "humans are both tormentor/ and saviors". So, there's delight to be found in these pages, but also a call for awareness." Standing Feather, an outstanding New Mexico poet, wrote that "There is something profoundly spiritual and tragically elusive in our understanding of the vast wilderness. In Under the Tail of the Milky Way Galaxy, Ethel Mortenson Davis shows us how to connect deeply with the sacred spiral and reminds us that compassion is the fragrant essence that draws light into the darkness of human desire and elevates us to the edge of grand possibility." This is a book that has both nature and the tragedy of humanity as its themes. It can be tough sometimes, but more often than not the poetry reaches for a beauty and power that the reader will not soon forget.
About the Author: Ethel Mortenson Davis has published four books of poetry, I Sleep Between the Moons of New Mexico, White Ermine Across Her Shoulders, The Healer, and We Breathe in Sky and Out Sky. Trained as an artist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, her poetry is intensely visual, demonstrating the same life, color, and movement of her pastels. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies, literary journals, and magazines. Her artwork has been shown in a number of galleries in Wisconsin and New Mexico. She has also had individual works of art appear in different journals and magazines. Currently a resident of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on the Door County peninsula, one of the writing and art centers of the Midwest United States, she publishes a blog at www.fourwindowspress.com with her husband Thomas Davis that features poetry, artwork, photographs, and an occasional essay. She has also read her poetry at a number of venues in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New Mexico. She was born and raised near Wausau, Wisconsin where her parents were dairy farmers. Her years on the farm instilled a deep sense of being part of the earth and animals, forests, water, and plant life. It is this sense of the inter-relatedness of nature and human community that makes up the themes of her poetry.