An Old Blue Light by Terra Oliveira
Written while in travel and in transition, An Old Blue Light evokes the feeling of roads, trains, new environments, and new sensations in a dialogue between the inner and outer world. Oliveira's work is often existential, sometimes questioning, sometimes resolving, but always with feeling. Threads of old grief and contented detachment accompany honest illustrations and prose, weaving together a collection on the border between the ascetic contemplations of a mystic and the vulnerable confessions of a person who dreams and loves.
"Terra Oliveira has always been able to bring the achingly human and the cosmic together, their poetry being the meeting point. This book feels like a triumph over loss. It feels like a discovery within oneself. Both ethereal and grounding at the same time. I feel as if I am experiencing their personal journey with them. They do not fail to inspire."
— Emery Allen, author of Become. and Soft Human
Terra Oliveira is a Philadelphia-based writer by way of the Bay Area, and the founder and editor of Recenter Press. They received their B.A. in documentary film production from San Francisco State University, and their poems have been published in Protean Magazine, Prolit Magazine, Peace, Land, and Bread Magazine, Hooligan Magazine, and more. In April 2016, Terra participated in the Hope Villa Artist Residency in the Western Ghats of India, and they were the Artist-In-Residence at The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu at The Great Wall of China in March of 2017. They believe in liberation, ancestral relationships, trauma recovery, God, pilgrimage and retreat, and the working class movement for socialism.
Collection of poetry and illustrations. Author photo by Nicholas Sese. 66 pages. Black & White. Published by Recenter Press in September 2017.