We Can Only Put Out The Fire, Not Catch What Started It.

Some poems land soft as fog rolling in off Perkins Cove. Others hit like a rogue wave against the rocks. Alice Taylor’s debut collection does both—and that’s exactly the point.

We Can Only Put Out The Fire, Not Catch What Started It is a raw, unflinching exploration of the interior landscape we all navigate but rarely map. Through verse that moves between the nonsensical and the achingly clear, Taylor captures the paralysis of modern life: the dreams we defer, the wishes we whisper, the fears that keep us frozen at the threshold of action.

These aren’t tidy, polished poems meant to sit pretty on a coffee table. They’re messy and green and sometimes downright ugly—in the best possible way. Taylor writes with the honesty of someone who knows that truth and lies often share the same bed, that risk and safety are closer cousins than we’d like to admit.

Whether you’re someone who underlines passages or someone who reads poetry like a mystery novel—racing to see where it goes—this collection offers something to resonate with. Or maybe it won’t. And that uncertainty? That’s part of the journey Taylor invites you to take.

Perfect for readers who appreciate contemporary poetry that doesn’t shy away from contradiction, this slim volume asks the questions we’re all avoiding: Where do you start? What is right? Why don’t we act?

Sometimes you can’t catch what started the fire. But you can sit with the smoke and see what it reveals.

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