Outside of Time

Carol Mikoda's chapbook Outside of Time imbues the ordinary hours, minutes, and seconds with the "magical patina" of the lyric Now. Mikoda wields sycamore, sunflower, and gingko with equal deftness as she comes unstuck in time, and talks back to Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen Hawking, and Henry David Thoreau, in poem after poem. Mikoda is a time traveler conversant with the chloroplast lighting the grass under our feet and the crescent moon over our heads. This chapbook echoes the famous statement from Walden: "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in." Spend an afternoon casting your line with Carol Mikoda. You won't regret it.

-Dante Di Stefano, author, Midwhistle

What if we unmeasured time in the surges of swallows? Or the piles of ice on a rocky shore? Or in the pages of poems that lead us back into our truest selves? Outside of Time is a beautiful invitation to pay attention to the fullness of a moment, to "open your throat to earth's banquet," to "lie here in the dark and listen," and to let the heart break open anew. With every poem, Carol Mikoda leads us so attentively into the present that she stitches us into the infinite.

-Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, author, The Unfolding and host, The Poetic Path

In Outside of Time, Carol Mikoda declares, "On this journey, nothing is explained; everything is possible." This collection is a celebration of those endless possibilities. The poems explore time in its many guises: past, present and future. Yet the constant throughout is Mikoda's intimate relationship with nature. These poems resound with rich imagery, deep insight, and pure love. To read this book is to accompany the poet on her timeless travels through the natural world.

-Gloria Heffernan, author, Fused