Ellie Altman is the author of two chapbooks: Thin as Air (2025) and Within Walking Distance (2023). Her poems have appeared most recently in Thimble Literary Magazine, Book of Matches, The Keeping Room, Gyroscope Review, and The Shore. A finalist for ESWAโs 2021 Crossroads Writing Contest, she is currently seeking a publisher for her full-length manuscript โRites of the Late Season.โ The former director of Adkins Arboretum, she lives on Marylandโs Eastern Shore with her husband and their beloved Viszla pup.
September arrives with peak weather of cooler, clearer days and I am feeling urgency to tackleโit being fall, the season for footballโyet not literally tackle a pigskin leather sphere with knees and shins slamming into the sod and dirt, but to tackle my self-imposed deadline for this short blog post to circulate into the stratosphereโฆ
By pushing your dreams further down the road, yet again, are you truly procrastinating? If this concept has been plaguing your life, then I have a gift for you. The word โprocrastinationโ cannot define a truth or be the guide that your behavior actually represents, unless drill-sergeant-berating fosters your growth, creativity, curiosity, and an adventuresomeโฆ
In October last year, I began to see Brenรฉ Brownโs promos for her new book, The Atlas of the Heart, which was just published on November 1. This romp through the spectrum of feeling holds no appeal for me in its promise to dive into all 87 human emotions. Absolutely terrifying. Do we even needโฆ
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Poetry in Progress
photo by Kris Kelley
Rites of the Late Season (full-length poetry manuscript).
In Rites of the Late Season, the poet lays bare both the inevitable pain and the undeniable power and grace of aging womanhood. These poems examine themes of ritual and the secular sacred, of air and earth and light, of perennial plant growth and dormancy, of seasons and cycles, of endings becoming new beginnings. She looks to the rituals in everyday life with astonishment and wonder, finding in them a hidden source of self-empowerment and spirituality. With both frustration and joy, these poems dance around the edge of enchantment. And as age attempts to diminish her, in body and in spirit, the poet answers with a stubborn brightness and abundance that bursts at the seams.
In Thin as Air, poet Ellie Altman faces with curiosity and confusion the reality of her own aging body and the question of where to find the nourishment she needs as her muscles and bones spin themselves finer and finer with each passing day. Will she eventually become so slender and spare, taking up so little space, that her diaphanous heart scatters in the wind? In each poem, she โdeftly darts on surfaces into a disappearing act, // gathering observations without leaving a trace.โ But despite her fears, there is joy in the idea of smallness tooโthe small moments and little things that make each day worth flitting and fluttering through. On the underside of every struggle, every questioning, is the soft, persistent glow of optimism as these poems embrace the late season as the time for rebirthโher slow unraveling and shrinking making way for a metamorphosis.
PRAISE FOR THIN AS AIR
โIn Thin as Air, Ellie Altman dances us through the ways identity shifts: from age to age, person to person, role to role, reflection to inflection. We see the things we know ourselves by transmuted into a new way of understanding the world. The way we dress to face the day, the foods we eat, the places we visit, the things we count carefully and hold close become the threads of a new lyric patchwork that at once solidifies and makes ephemeral the faces the mirror tells us are our own. These poems ask us to reckon with the fact that each us is made of a you and an I. Then it asks us to wrestle what you and I even mean.โ โJohn A. Nieves, editor of The Shore
โThin as Air captures Ellie Altmanโs keen eye for the nuances of an older womanโs daily life. These poems gracefully explore the journey of aging, blending humor with a touch of heartbreak. As the poet so elegantly puts it, โthe last gasp as I begin to prepare to disappear into thin air.โ Growing older is not for the faint-hearted, but Altmanโs poems reveal it as a journey to be embraced, not feared. These quiet moments resonate, leaving a lasting impact on both the narrator and the reader. A quick read, but one that lingers in the mind.โ โConstance Brewer, editor of Gyroscope Review
Within Walking Distance (chapbook), with illustrations by Emily Kalwaitis. Independently published (January 31, 2023). ORDER FROM BOOKSHOP, AMAZON, OR DIRECTLY FROM AUTHOR.
From street gutter to garden path, from coffee shop to alleyway, Within Walking Distance maps the intimate intricacies of small-town life in the footsteps of a poet and her faithful dog. Ellie Altmanโs whimsical poems grapple with an aging womanโs sense of belonging in her environment, as she oscillates between feeling at home and feeling like an outsider. Thereโs a closeness here that she thrives within and pushes back against, like the alleyโs โbrick walls holding / the night sky in a narrow chute.โ And alongside each of these hauntingly charming poems float the dreamlike watercolors of Emily Kalwaitis, a visual artist who lives in this same riverside town. With these enchanting pairings of poem and painting, Within Walking Distance captures a vivid sense of place in equal parts sincerity and irony, foreboding and wonder.
PRAISE FOR WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE
โIn poems that are both playful and profound, Ellie Altman takes us on a dog-walk through the small corners of her hometown. Alongside the poet and her loyal pooch, we revel in the surprising tidbits daily life offers up. Luminous illustrations by Emily Kalwaitis amplify our discoveries. This little gem is a tail wag and a delight.โ โMeredith Davies Hadaway, author of At the Narrows
โEllie Altmanโs charmingly illustrated Within Walking Distance chronicles a womanโs journey to herself as the speaker, by turns tentative and bold, attempts to find her footing, step by step in a new town. As a newcomer, she frets โโฆwhat did passersby think of the owner of the welcome-yellow house with dead shrubsโa gaping hole in its otherwise cheerful smile?โ Yet, over the walking miles to and from town with her beloved dog, she has beat her own path, and can lay claim to her own identity and place: โI am a poet. I do what I doโ in โa riot of life . . . set against / the stageโs backdrop of manicured privet.โโ โNancy Mitchell, author of The Out-of-Body Shop
Naomi Dalglish and Michael Hunt are Bandana Pottery. Of all the artist I support by collecting their work, Naomi and Michael’s work is my largest collection. Their work encapsulates the best of traditional, primitive, contemporary, whimsy and practical where heaven and heart meet. Bandana Pottery is located in Western North Carolina, a stone throw from Penland School of Crafts.
Artist Evie Baskin paints (pastels, oils, mixed-media, and silverpoint) stunning portraits of children and adults, as well as beloved pets. Her work evokes emotion, contemplation, and strength not limited by the two-dimensions of her medium. Her landscape paintings will transport you to natural areas near and far.
Chestertown is located on the Chester River, a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Art, theatre, music, literary arts, shopping, and dining fill this Colonial town that is home to America’s oldest college, Washington College, chartered in 1782. It is where Ellie’s lives and the inspiration of her favorite theme, small town life.
My house’s walls are graced with two of Kelly’s abstract oils. The colors, the layers, the texture, and the strokes are pure energy ready to jump from this 2-D work. They will make you want to take a two-punch into the world to standup and shout your truth. I love Kelly.
Living in Cockeyville, MD, north of Baltimore, Julia explores the natural areas that abound in Northern Maryland to practice her stunning plein air painting depicting meadows, wetlands, and woodlands in all seasons. I have collected her work for two decades and remain as awed by their beauty today as I was when they first captivated me.
Dreams, fairytales and childhood memories greatly influence my images, which often evolve from an impression left by a dream or suddenly recalled early experience. Emily’s interest in fairytales comes mostly from deeply connecting to them as a child, especially those in which the main character is female who, faced with limitations, prevails because of her purity and endurance. Kiki Smith, Joseph Cornell and Virginia Woolf have inspired Emily. Emily is the illustrator for Ellie’s first chapbook, Within Walking Distance.
Key West Literary Seminar, established in 1983, promotes the understanding and discussion of important literary works and their authors; recognizes and supports new voices in literature; and preserves and promote Key Westโs literary heritage. Key West has long been the home of many prominent American writers.
Among other things, Lindsay is a poet, editor, writing coach, letterpress printer, and graphic designer. She loves horror movies, fairy tales, and all the fabulous names for wildflowers. Contact her for freelance services, including: poetry coaching & consultations, broadsides, & graphic design for poets (& writers). Lindsay is the author of the poetry collection Catechesis: a postpastoral (The University of Utah Press, 2019), winner of the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize, judged by Kimiko Hahn. She is also the author of two chapbooks, Blackbird Whitetail Redhand (Porkbelly Press, 2018) and Imago (dancing girl press, 2014), and the winner of the 2015 Fairy Tale Review Poetry Contest. Lindsay has been coaching, editing, designing, and guiding Ellie into and through her late-in-life poetry gig.
Shari is on a crusade. I don’t know a more principled and generous person. She is a former Maryland Secretary of the Environment, who has gone from policy to all-hands-on-deck advocacy for growing native plants to restore habitat for wildlife and our overall health. She is spreading stunning beauty throughout Maryland by as a indefatigable educator and resource for homeowners and gardeners with her smart weekly blog. She is an authority you can trust. Click HERE to read Shari’s blog about Ellie’s garden.
Kris Kelley is an amazing Chestertown-based photographer who is responsible for all the fantastic new author photos on this website! She is also the Arts Education Coordinator at RiverArts.
