Around the Block

Emily Axelrod’s poems draw upon her childhood in San Francisco, an abiding connection to the landscape of Northern California, and summers spent on a small island in Maine. 

Around the Block is Axelrod’s fourth book of poetry, following Passerby (Antrim Books, 2015), North Window (Finishing Line Press, 2020), and By Chance (Kelsay Books, 2023). Her poems have been published in The Muddy River Review, The Galway Review, The Cafe Review, On the Seawall, and elsewhere. She is a winner of the 2019 Cambridge Poetry Contest.

Axelrod’s professional life was in the world of architecture and urban planning. She holds a master’s degree in Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and is the former Director of the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, a national award for urban placemaking. She lives and works in Cambridge, MA.

Paperback: 86 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (November 21, 2025)