Guidance from the God of Seahorses

" Guidance from the God of Seahorses is guidance from Keats Conley, one of the most astute observers of Nature I have encountered. This book is pure light in a darkening world: Earth psalms. Both poet and scientist, lyricist and inquisitor, Conley speaks directly to and from the essence of each creature, a rarity. The intimacy and delight of these prose poems is a joyous embrace and affirmation of who we live among. Keats Conley writes with fresh attention, humor, and knowledge. This book of poetry is a testament to wonder, our awakening to a brilliant new voice, anticipated, needed and necessary. If hope is an energy field passed on from one generation to the next, Guidance from the Gods of Seahorses is born out of this lineage of hope and love." Terry Tempest Williams
"Keats Conley's book Guidance from the God of Seahorses , features many animals, each of which has a creator-god of its own who speaks to his creation poetically. The messages spoken by the gods are witty and serious, playful, insightful from various angles; a scientific fact appears occasionally, a rare, mysterious word now and then, metaphors, a little slang. These brief, tightly written pieces are unique and totally engaging overall. Conley has taken some exciting risks in this book and come through a winner." Pattiann Rogers
"If Adam was the first poet, naming the creatures of the garden, it might have been Keats Conley in an early incarnation of Eve who gave them access to their souls. This is a modern bestiary of the overlooked, the disenfranchised, the disregarded. No sentimentalist, Conley is like Coyote in her opening piece, the trickster figure who can nuzzle your nose one moment and chew the leg off your assumptions the next. A reader is not safe anywhere in these pages. Conley combines the sensibility and vocabulary of a scientist with a willful refusal to ignore the very human inclination toward empathy and compassion. Read as many of these poems out loud as you can. Conley has an exquisite ear for sound, for the taunting tarantellas of the tongue, loving alliteration, assonance, the sly dance partner of unobtrusive rhyme. This is a book to admire for craft and nerve and spirit." Samuel Green, first poet laureate, state of Washington