Welcome to Ex Ophidia Press

Most Recent Publication | 2024 Contest Winner

Recovery Commands

Abby E Murray’s latest collection, Recovery Commands, details a blistering indictment of life within the hermetically sealed culture of military life, with poems drafted from a reservoir of love and justice. At an even more profound level, they share an intimate and internal dialogue that doubles to cross the page and speak to the reader—and what we learn is nothing less than how to remain true to one’s deepest self, to the degree that “not even the universe// can erase the atoms/ that make up my mind.” Murray braids wisdom with lyricism in an absurd humor throughout, imploring “January, speak to me/ in blackbirds” while raising the necessary questions for us all: “Must our anthems be written in the key// of bombs or mountains?” Recovery Commands is a phenomenal meditation on selfhood within culture, and one that will remain with me for years to come.

– Brian Turner, Author of the dead peasant’s handbook