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 Altman's whimsical poems grapple with an aging woman's sense of belonging in her environment, as she oscillates between feeling at home and feeling like an outsider. There's a closeness here that she thrives within and pushes back against, like the alley's "brick walls holding / the night sky in a narrow chute." 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.
