Worn Open Places

In Worn Open Places, Nielson reminds us that life is tenuous at best. He doesn't shy away from the erosive nature of our sufferings, not the least of which is a deep sense of our own insignificance, if not isolation, in such a vast universe. But what is left after we are worn open, he suggests, is a tendered heart, and a deeper awareness that all living things are hallowed and even more beautiful because of their impermanence. This book sings of life in all its "churning and buzzing splendor." It celebrates the red-rock and talus left behind by rivers and glaciers. It welcomes the grit and the grace found in a life worn open.

-Peter Anderson, author of Riding the Wheel, Heading Home: Field Notes, and First Church of the Higher Elevations

Nielson is a poet deeply connected to place - from the red-rock cliffs and high deserts of his native Utah and the unspoiled landscapes of the American West to the rugged Andes Mountains of South America. Equally passionate about the people who have touched his life - his forefathers who wandered far in search of new beginnings, his family, and his friends - the poems in Worn Open Places are the work of a keen observer of both backcountry nature and human nature who relishes life with all its messiness, complexity, and mystery, and invites readers to raise a glass with him in "a toast to all that is good."

-Lynda La Rocca, author of Unbroken and It Could Have Gone Another Way

Nielson, in Worn Open Places, ventures into the Colorado mountains, the rivers of the west, the open highways of the desert, and all the many places that adventure, longing, and curiosity call us to. On these journeys we are allowed to see the world through the poet's eyes but also afforded the opportunity to feel for ourselves the familiar embrace of wonder. Woven throughout this collection, Nielson brings beauty to bear on tragedy, humor as mithridate to angst, joy to illuminate darkness, and wanderlust as elixir for loss - the balance here is delicate - the poems are raw and powerful, their architect kind and grateful.

-Aaron A. Abeyta, winner of The American Book Award