Swimming Between Mountains
Swimming Between Mountains
Calla James
Description
I danced to the sound of the rain
on my skin, kept dancing
when it was too quiet to hear.
I laid on the bleached rocks
and let it all go.
The rain felt soft, kind, adventurous on my cheeks.
I ached to be the same for her
because what is nature if not two-sided.
Calla James’ debut poetry collection centers around their semester spent in the mountains of North Carolina. In Swimming Between Mountains, they explore how the experience allowed them to begin to heal, grow, and learn to live intentionally, away from the pressures of technology. As they return to “normal life,” they must reconcile who they were in the wilderness and how to rebuild their life in Maine around who they have become.
Praise For…
“The Earth experiences heartbreak, resiliency, and healing. So does our speaker in Swimming Between Mountains. It is an honest testimony about nature, self injury, breakups, friendship, and how loving our surroundings may teach us how to love ourselves. I encourage readers to dive in and engage in the adventure James provides us through vivid sonnets and free verse. I couldn't stop smiling and resonating with Calla James' voice.” — Maya Williams, Author of Judas & Suicide
“Each poem in Swimming Between Mountains scintillates like a bright river stone in one of the forests James leads the reader through while exploring issues of friendship, identity, mental health, and the human connection to the earth.” – Hailey Talbert, Author of Precipice
POETRY | Paperback | 108 Pages | 2023 | ISBN: 979-8-9877055-3-7
Photo by Winky Lewis
About the Author
Calla James is a senior at Waynflete who spent the fall of their junior year at the Outdoor Academy in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. There, they relearned to love being outside and in the absence of technology. Upon their return to Maine, they found ways to run around the woods any chance they got. Aside from adventuring and writing, they like to read, knit, and row. You can catch them looking for frogs in their stream or walking around Portland with their friends. In the fall, they’ll be starting at Carleton College to study creative writing and the environment.