Firefly

<p>In her debut poetry collection <em>Firefly</em> Ellen Austin-Li tells the intimate story of her own descent into alcoholism/addiction and subsequent recovery. These poems are inhabited by light and shadow flying insects and cocoons the woods and the water—each one a brush stroke on canvas. Taken together these poems form an impressionistic painting of what it is like to struggle with alcoholism/addiction as well as what it is like to learn how to live sober. Ultimately the peace this poet seeks is found within the natural world: “I’ve heard the woods can heal you....” The deep inner strength she discovers is mirrored in the experience of viewing a partial eclipse: “yet marveled at the power of sun who gave so much light with the smallest fraction of herself.” In the end this poet comes to realize “I am not a low hum but oh so much more luminous than I once believed.”</p><p> </p>