Leave The Ground
Trail PoemsA year-long Certificate Program in poetry at the Independent Publishing Resource Center led to this chapbook of new and revisited poems, Leave The Ground.
Each poem is paired with a photograph, and organized into one of four thematic sections, tracking an emotional arc of languishing, longing, exploration and dread:
I. Landloose
II. Second Sight
III. Field Spells
IV. Oblivion Suite
The title Leave The Ground originates from a demand that my studio mates Ramzy and Richard bellowed in graduate school: you must transcend the practical bonds imposed upon you and alchemize these mundane elements into something more. These poems have grown out of that instinct.
Throughout the book, I also found myself asking us to leave the ground alone, to recognize that our carbon is temporarily on loan from the soil, and to witness how gravity pulls everything from the earth back into itself.
Each copy of this limited run is hand-bound. The cover comes in either a raw ochre, or waxed canvas finish, which will give the material a hardier defense against wear and tear. Wax or no wax, the earth will take back this book, and you — eventually.
Included Poems:
