Preoccupied with earth science since childhood, Aimee Nezhukumatathil crafts her research-based poetry using curious phenomena of the natural world. Her award-winning books of poems include Miracle Fruit, At the Drive-In Volcano, and Oceanic. Other honors include fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the National Endowment for the Arts. She serves as the poetry editor of Orion and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where she lives with her husband and sons. Her essay in this issue is part of her forthcoming collection from Milkweed Editions.