Abstract
Spanning multiple years, spaces, and states of mind, Animal Summer is an eternal season in which a single speaker takes on the voices of horses, broken cowboy hats, 18th century miners, and past selves set in rural Montana. This collection pulls from lyric, deep image, and confessional traditions. It’s about deeply entangled relationships—romantic, familial, professional, and spacial, ultimately exploring in the wider world through the complicated lens of the American West.