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Occasionally Accurate Science: Poems by July Westhale, Illustrations by Liz Laribee

$21.00

ISBN: 978-1-73278-661-5
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Categories Nomadic, Poetry

Occasionally Accurate Science

July Westhale

Publication Date: January 15, 2019

Description

In June of 2023, Black Lawrence Press welcomed numerous existing and forthcoming Nomadic Press titles to our catalogue. Occasionally Accurate Science was originally published by Nomadic.

The poems and illustrations in Occasionally Accurate Science investigate, play with, and push the envelope of collective nouns in fantastical and ordinary ways. With off-the-wall forms and the occasional scientific accuracy, Occasionally Accurate Science seeks to help children (and quirky adults!) explore the blurry lines between fact and fiction, poetry and taxonomy. Occasionally Accurate Science allows readers to explore the fantastical world of groupings of animals with one eye turned toward the truth. It is a delightful book that can be used for fancy and education in equal measure.

Praise

Occasionally Accurate Science-a fantastical taxonomy of animals from a Zeal of Zebras to an Atom of Apes – invites us to celebrate both natural and unnatural wonders. Encompassing such diversiform phenomena as the habitats and plumage of grouses, foxes’ feminist tendencies and the periodic migration of zebras to San Francisco disco halls, this miraculous book will captivate readers of all ages.
– Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, author of Salve and Collateral Damage

In delightfully off-kilter poems that smack of Ogden Nash, July Westhale’s, Occasionally Accurate Science strolls backwards through an alphabet zoo, schooling us in the very noble sounding but probably not-quite-accurate collective nouns for all her favorite creatures: a “yell” of yaks, a “kayak” of kangaroos. I’d probably advise against using these zany verses as a textbook, but if giggling and snorting and occasionally (maybe?) learning a true sliver of science is your goal, then Westhale’s the madcap guide for you.
–Justin Rigamonte, author of The Pigs Go Marching Out!

About the Author

July Westhale

Poet and translator July Westhale was born in the American Southwest. Their books include moon moon, Trailer Trash, Unmade Hearts, and Via Negativa, which Publishers Weekly called "stunning" in a starred review. Ocean Vuong chose Westhale as the 2018 University of Arizona Poetry Center Fellow. Their translation of the Chilean poet Rolando Cardenas' collected works was selected for the 2026 Unsung Masters Series (forthcoming from Pleiades Press). They have work in McSweeney’s, DIAGRAM, The National Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, CALYX, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and The Huffington Post, among others. July is represented by Carolyn Forde at Transatlantic and lives in Tucson, where they are adapting their novel to film. www.julywesthale.co

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