"Alex Gurtis is a skilled poet with a deft eye. In When the Ocean Comes to Me, he threads issues on many people’s minds right now: the environment, personal relationships, and how to make a living because What is an economy where a credit card rejects a Diet Coke? Gurtis takes these issues seriously but has a knack for the playful turn of phrase and image as Denim works 9-5 and 8-12. / Denim doesn’t sleep. He uses wit to tie capitalism's destructive tendencies to the natural landscape, specifically focusing on hurricanes in Florida. His poems look directly at the rainbands and meditate in the storm's eye. This artful work reminds us we can learn just as much about ourselves from the quiet moments as we can from those filled with the most noise."

—Tyler Gillespie, author of Florida Man

More hurricanes, more Florida. This time in a late-capitalist landscape where the rent continues to be too damn high and “working in education is a type of trauma.” At times mournful and bitter, though not without a kind of gallows humor, and at times full of wonder and appreciative of moments of beauty, Gurtis has a knack for zeroing in on the right image at the right time, as well as balancing fanciful thoughts with harsh reality.

—Ryan Rivas, author of Lizard People\