Poems | Chapter 16

“When the Dust Settles”

By Bill Brown | July 11, 2019

Bill Brown grew up in West Tennessee ten miles from the Mississippi River. He is the author of eight poetry collections and a writing textbook. Formerly the director of the writing program at Hume-Fogg Academic High School in Nashville, he was named a Distinguished Teacher in the Arts in 1995 by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and the 2011 Writer of the Year by the Tennessee Writers Alliance. His latest book is The News Inside. “When the Dust Settles” is from his 2008 collection, Late Winter.

“Message from Egururu”

Book Excerpt: Migration

By Cynthia Robinson Young | June 28, 2019

Cynthia Robinson Young’s work has appeared in Sojourners, Poetry South, The Ekphrastic Review, and Catalpa: a magazine of Southern perspectives, among other journals and anthologies. She is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

“what you have left”

Book Excerpt: Bright Along the Body

By Ashley Roach-Freiman | June 14, 2019

Ashley Roach-Freiman is a librarian and poet from Memphis. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Bone Bouquet, Fugue, THRUSH Poetry Journal, Southern Women’s Review, The Literary Review, Ghost Proposal, and Nightjar Review.

“Impermanence”

Book Excerpt: Unopened

By Doug Hoekstra | May 3, 2019

Doug Hoekstra, an author and musician, has toured the U.S. and Europe as a singer-songwriter in support of eight albums on various labels. He will read from Unopened, his first poetry collection, on May 7 at The Post East in Nashville.

“More Honored in the Breach: A Note to Ghost, Absent”

Book Excerpt: The Feral Condition

By Gaylord Brewer | April 5, 2019

Gaylord Brewer is a professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. His most recent books are a cookbook-memoir, The Poet’s Guide to Food, Drink, & Desire, and a new collection, The Feral Condition, from which this poem is excerpted.

“Primer”

Book Excerpt: The Low Passions

By Anders Carlson-Wee | March 19, 2019

Anders Carlson-Wee is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and winner of the 2017 Poetry International Prize. He will read from his debut collection, The Low Passions, at Pretentious Beer Co. in Knoxville on March 21, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on March 22, and at The Porch in Nashville on March 23.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, illustrated by Josie Del Castillo
Seal Press
304 pages
$30

“Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas — laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”

~ Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker