Of Meadows and Echoes: The Yearning for Soft Spaces

Deeply sensory and sensual, sculpted from both earth and spirit, this beautiful collection beckons like the most refreshing, nourishing mountain waters. In other words, this book invites us "to forsake all fossilized fear" and "drink the ambrosia of peace." Khalil Elayan is a poet who embraces whimsy as well as large statement - in one poem he celebrates a poplar "proud and popular," in another he crafts a song to samsara, or "the suffering of ages." Reminiscent of Seamus Heaney's deftly musical lines and Li-Young Lee's piercing imagery, these poems astonish, soothe, provoke, caress, swerve, and burn a strange brightness.

-Chen Chen, poet, author, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency

In Of Meadows and Echoes, Khalil Elayan illuminates natural environments' incessant beauty. Within vivid passages like "There is a wide space / of dandelions and mouse whiskers / Where gaps in the bulrushes / allow climbing turtles to lay their eggs," worlds are constructed; the texture of the "meadows" is so detailed here you can almost hear the movement of the animals. While the language in this collection is tactile, there is a parallel subtext rendered through allusions to the celestial and the divine. "Noontime Caress" reminds us to look skyward, that our ecosystems include entities that are almost too large to fathom. The power of these poems is not just rooted in poetic clarity but also in the ability to unsettle the reader, to provoke questions. What color emerges on the other side of a mountain? What part of our selves is willing to explore the wildness in mystery? These poems press down on the idea of self-discovery through the risk of trusting the future and remembering the past.

-Kirwyn Sutherland, poet, author, Jump Ship

In Of Meadows and Echoes, Khalil Elayan guides readers into the quiet spaces we often overlook, capturing fleeting moments of beauty and intimacy within the natural world. Through vivid, sensory-rich poetry, Elayan explores the subtle yet powerful connections between human experience and nature's mysteries. Each poem unfolds like a whispered conversation, illuminating lush meadows, resonant forests, and personal reflections on memory, longing, and stillness. This collection warmly invites us to slow down, notice, and cherish the echoes of our own lives.

-Garrard Conley, novelist, author, Boy Erased: A Memoir