Poems - by Ron Rash (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A collection of haunting lyricism that evokes the beauty and hardship of the rural South, by a revered American master of letters--the award-winning, bestselling author of the novels Serena, Something Rich and Strange, and Above the Waterfall.

In this incandescent, profound, and accessible collection, beloved and award-winning poet, novelist, and short-story writer Ron Rash vividly channels the rhythms of life in Appalachia, deftly capturing the panoply of individuals who are its heart and soul--men and women inured to misfortune and hard times yet defined by tremendous fortitude, resilience, and a fierce sense of community.

In precise, supple language that swerves from the stark to the luminous, Rash richly describes the splendor of the natural landscape and poignantly renders the lives of those dependent on its bounty--in cotton mills and tobacco fields, farmlands and forests. The haunting memories and shared histories of these people--their rituals and traditions--animate this land, and are celebrated in Rash's crystalline, intensely imagined verse.

With an eye for the surprising and vivid detail, Ron Rash powerfully captures the sorrows and exaltations of this wondrous world he knows intimately. Illuminating and indelible, Poems demonstrates his rich talents and confirms his legacy as a standard-bearer for the literature of the American South.

What emerges from this landscape of hardship and beauty?

• Hardship and Resilience: Portraits of men and women shaped by the rhythms of the land, from the cotton mills to the tobacco fields, whose fortitude defines a generation.
• Poetry of Place: Crystalline verse that captures the haunting splendor of the Appalachian landscape, from its rolling graveyards to its forgotten river valleys.
• Family Heritage: The haunting memories, rituals, and shared histories that animate the lives of families and bind a fierce, proud community together.
• Masterful Southern Literature: From the award-winning, bestselling author of novels like Serena, a collection that confirms his legacy as a powerful voice of the American South.

From the Back Cover

In this incandescent and profound collection, beloved and award-winning poet, novelist, and short-story writer Ron Rash channels the rhythms of life in Appalachia, deftly capturing the panoply of individuals who are its heart.

With an eye for the surprising and vibrant detail, Rash powerfully captures the sorrows of this wondrous world he knows intimately. As B.H. Fairchild has noted, "There is nothing else quite like this work in American poetry at the present time, and we desperately need it." Illuminating and indelible, Poems demonstrates Rash's rich talents and confirms his legacy as a standard-bearer for the literature of the American South.

Review Quotes

"Rash illuminates his dark material with humor and tenderness...The elegies for a landscape and its inhabitants in POEMS: New and Selected leave us with a renewed sense of how 'too much too soon disappears'" - New York Times Book Review