Ali Michael Cannon’s poems drift into our consciousness with powerful images of life, death, and the vastness of both a real and imagined wilderness—a wild/er/ness that transgresses social boundaries and barriers, the transgressions grounded in the continuity of many peoples’ historical resistance. In a deeply moving tribute to his dying father, he writes “Our eyes locked/ into a portal of breath/endless pathways/ to the great beyond.” Seeing clearly what is, holding grief, blessing trans people into wholeness with Jewish and queer sensibilities, Ali’s poetic gifts lift us all into circles of love.
—Bettina Aptheker, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Feminist Studies University of California, Santa Cruz
In Mountain Men, Ali Michael Cannon has gifted us with extraordinary access to his navigation of his father’s passing, his relationship with earth and identity, and raw and honest celebration of birth, death and all transitions in-between. This collection shores up the mastery of craft and courage necessary to declare our Us-ness; our I-ness and our relation to all that is human and holy.
Sidney Clifton, Founder & President, The Clifton House Board of Directors, Academy of American Poets
