Media Kit

A Thousand Flames by Corey S. Pressman

Published by Verdant Publishing

Book Overview

Title: A Thousand Flames
Author: Corey S. Pressman
Genre: Poetry
Format: Paperback, — pages
ISBN: 979-8-9993864-5-8
Publisher: Verdant Publishing
Publication Date: November 10, 2026
Library of Congress Number: 2026947146
Price: $16.99

In A Thousand Flames, Corey S. Pressman spends a lifetime looking closely at hillsides, at rivers, at the small unremarkable moments that turn out to hold everything. The collection's eleven sections move through longing, water, love, and the ordinary made luminous, each poem built from the kind of specific, sensory detail that only comes from years of paying attention.

The poems range widely in setting, from a Mill Valley hilltop to the ruins of an ancient settlement, but they share a single instinct: to stop, notice, and stay a little longer than most of us do. Pressman is a visual artist as well as a poet, and that eye is everywhere in this book, precise and patient and unwilling to look away from anything, even the things that are hard to hold onto.

This is a book about what we keep and what slips past us. It's about the discipline of paying attention before a moment is gone, and about the thousand small flames that a life is actually made of.

Short Description

A Thousand Flames is Corey S. Pressman's debut poetry collection, eleven sections written across decades and gathered into one book. The poems move through longing, rivers, love, and the strange beauty of ordinary things, ranging in setting from a hilltop in Mill Valley to the excavated ruins of Çatalhöyük. Each one asks you to slow down and stay a little longer than expected.

About the Author

Corey S. Pressman is a writer, artist, and teacher living in Portland, Oregon. He is a member and owner of Blackfish Gallery and shows his art at galleries and public collections around the country. His paintings use a "waxed powder" technique, in which powder pigments are applied directly to paper or panels and then varnished with cold wax or encaustic medium, giving the work its distinctive texture and glow.

Corey has published academic works, short stories, and poetry, and his writing has appeared alongside voices like Merlin Sheldrake and Jeff VanderMeer. He teaches in the Integrative Health and Wellness program at the University of Portland, where he focuses on autonomy, imagination, and creativity as tools for wellbeing, and he works with individuals and organizations on purposeful decision-making.

A Thousand Flames is his debut poetry collection.

Key Themes & Topics

  • Longing and memory

  • Rivers, water, and the natural world

  • Love and connection

  • The beauty of ordinary, overlooked moments

  • Attention and presence

  • Place, from a California hilltop to ancient ruins

Media Assets

High-resolution images available for download:

Events & Appearances

  • Book Launch Event: November 14th - 6:30pm, Antler/Talon Gallery - 2714 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR 97211

  • Readings & Signings: To be announced

Links

Press Contact

Verdant Publishing
Attn: Shannon Amidon
info@verdancyproject.com www.verdancyproject.com/verdant-publishing