Book Release!
Shadow of a Bear: A Poem in 23 Passages
UPDATE: The second edition is now available. You can order it HERE
In this immersive meditation on wildness, kinship, and the porous boundary between human and animal life, Rebecca Weil layers observation of seasonal changes and the rhythms of rural life with the presence of black bears as both literal and symbolic beings.
All proceeds from the book go to the Kilham Bear Center in New Hampshire, for the rescue, rehabilitation and release of orphaned, abandoned, and injured black bear cubs.
The front and back cover images reproduce watercolors by Kristen Griger.
Praise for SHADOW OF A BEAR
Rebecca Weil writes with hope: “we can make space / for the wild around us / and inside us.” The speaker in this kaleidoscopic poem questions what it means to see the “other”—in this case, Ursus americanus—for what the “other” truly is while showing us how the maternal may help bridge the divide. Weil’s language—at moments spare, at other times lush and luxurious—enthralls, serving as a wise and insistent guide to the possibilities of crossing boundaries and of learning, with deep compassion and empathy, to live peacefully in the presence of the world that sustains us.
—Todd Davis, author of Native Species, Coffin Honey, and Ditch Memory: New and Selected Poems
I see Rebecca Weil finding ways, while observing the wild world, to learn from its rhythms—gluttony, longing, rest. She has a way of writing little blessings for moments of insight that settle the mind. Weil reminds me that a poem, like an episode of direct encounter with Earth creatures, can offer discovery, connection, immersion, as if leaves and wings and roots and all the rest are teaching us how to be human here, and Weil is the courier of this instruction.
—Kim Stafford, author of Wild Honey, Tough Salt, Singer Come from Afar, and As the Sky Begins to Change
NEW RELEASE OCTOBER 29 2025: I am happy to share the launch of my new chapbook, Shadow of a Bear: A Poem in 23 Passages, published by Monday Editions in a limited edition of 50 copies. The front and back cover images reproduce watercolors by Kristen Griger.
The founder and publisher of Monday Editions—poet, editor, and Substack writer X.P. Callahan—describes Monday Editions as a gift-economy poetry micropublisher. In keeping with this model, all proceeds from the chapbook will be donated to the Kilham Bear Center, in Lyme, New Hampshire, for the rescue, rehabilitation and release of orphaned, abandoned, and injured black bear cubs.
