The First Sea

What do children lose when they acquire language?

Diane Thiel is the author of ten books of poetry and nonfiction, including Echolocations, Resistance Fantasies, and Winding Roads, among others. Thiel's work has appeared in many journals, including Poetry, The Hudson Review, and the Sewanee Review and is re-printed in over sixty major anthologies. Her awards include a PEN award, an NEA International Literature Award, the Robinson Jeffers Award, the Robert Frost Award, the Nicholas Roerich Award, and she was a Fulbright Scholar. Thiel received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Brown University and is Professor of English and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies at the University of New Mexico. With her husband and four children, Thiel has traveled and lived in Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia, working on literary and environmental projects. 

“The First Sea,” from Diane Thiel’s forthcoming poetry collection, first appeared in The Burden of the Beholder from The Press at Colorado College.