This book was conceived as a collaboration between daughter and father, poet and painter. Molly Mellinger was born in Menlo Park, CA, on August 28, 1987, and spent her childhood in Fairfield, CT. She graduated with honors from Ottawa University, KS. Her first published poems date to her high school years. As all who knew her would attest, Molly saw life through a unique lens and possessed a rare ability to convey her vision through her writing. Despite years of chronic pain and complications from autoimmune disease, Molly was poised to complete her Master of Fine Arts in Poetry through Fairfield University in December 2020. She died in November 2020, just weeks from graduation.
As Molly developed the collection of poems that would be her thesis, Molly and Craig often discussed their mutual love for the natural world and painful awareness of human frailty. They talked of creating a book of poems and paintings that would explore these shared themes. Work on the book had not yet started during Molly’s lifetime. The Viewable Earth was published posthumously in tribute to Molly and her poetry.