Local Books: A new collection of poems by Richard Wakefield

New releases

"A Vertical Mile" by Richard Wakefield (Able Muse Press, $16.95). This new collection by the Renton-born poet focuses on the people and places of rural Washington state. The farms where all the people lived are gone,/the people gone to graves — or town. The land/lies fallow. Yet the river murmurs on,/some days in words I almost understand. Wakefield is a frequent book reviewer for The Seattle Times.

"Asserting Native Resilience: Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations Face the Climate Crisis" edited by Zoltán Grossman and Alan Parker (Oregon State University Press, $24.95). Tribal leaders, scientists, scholars and activists offer perspectives on how indigenous nations, whose cultures and economies "are among the most vulnerable to climate-related catastrophes," are developing responses we all can learn from. Grossman is a senior research associate, and Parker is the director of the Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute at The Evergreen State College.

"The Peculiars" by Maureen Doyle McQuerry (Amulet Books, $16.95). For ages 12 and older: Eighteen-year-old Lena sets out to find her father in the untamed northern wilderness and begins to wonder whether she is one of the Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unfit for modern society. McQuerry is a poet and teacher from Richland.

"Glimmer" by Phoebe Kitanidis (Balzer + Bray, $17.99). For ages 14 and older: Neither Marshall nor Elyse remembers how they ended up in bed together, or understands why they alone seem to question the happy vibe of Summer Falls, a perfect, quaint resort town. They have to trust each other — even if neither turns out to be what they first thought — in this supernatural story. Kitanidis lives in Seattle.