" . . . the uncanniness of the commonplace . . ."

The Land Itself, by Jared Carter.  Introductory essay by BJ Omanson.  Photographs by the author.  72 pp.  (Monongahela Books, 2019).  

A review by Michael R. Burch of The Land Itself has appeared recently on the online poetry journal The HyperTexts.

Burch refers to Carter as " . . . the poet of the uncanniness of the commonplace . . ."  He writes,

"The Land Itself begins on a Quixotic note, with a dog barking in the distance and “somewhere a windmill turning in the wind.” The first small town we encounter is ironically named Summit. But Summit is long gone, vanished without a trace from its hill. What remains? “Only the land itself and the way it still rose up.” Here we find the book’s title. What is left when we ourselves are gone, or have become mere shades of ourselves? The land itself, a haunting thought.

"

The entire review may be read here.

Two poems from the new edition of BJ Omanson’s "Stark County Poems" published in Illinois Heritage

Two of the new poems from the new enlarged edition of BJ Omanson's Stark County Poems-- "Proverb of the Three Hotels" and "The Boy Who Climbed a Tree"  (both about Abraham Lincoln's 1858 visit to Toulon, in Stark County, Illinois)-- appear in the current issue of Illinois Heritage: a Publication of the Illinois State Historical Society.

The Proverb of the Three Hotels

 

There was a time in Toulon, long ago,

when the number of wayfarers passing through

was so large it required three hotels

to accommodate them.  Jeffrey Cooley,

a loyal Republican through and through,

was the owner of The Virginia House

which, on a chilly October day

in 1858, was favored

by a country lawyer named Abe Lincoln

and his entourage.  Across the street,

the hotel of Democrat, B.G. Hall,

found favor with Senator Douglas and

his entourage. The remaining hotel,

Elias Stockner’s The Toulon House,

with no party loyalties either way

but a first-rate saloon in the basement,

found favor with both political camps

and prospered for many a year, long after

each of its rivals had bitten the dust..

A poem from Jared Carter's "The Land Itself" appears in Ted Kooser's newspaper column, American Life in Poetry

 A poem from Jared Carter's The Land Itself has been chosen for inclusion in Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry project.  The poem is "Changing the Front Porch Light."  

Kooser's project, in partnership with the Library of Congress, was inaugurated while Kooser was serving as Poet Laureate of the United States.  He describes it as follows:  "American Life in Poetry is a free weekly column for newspapers and online publications featuring a poem by a contemporary American poet and a brief introduction to the poem by Ted Kooser.  The sole mission of this project is to promote poetry, and we believe we can add value for newspaper and online readers by doing so. "

Kooser's weekly column appears in newspapers across the United States and in 72 different countries around the world.  All poems which appear in his column are archived in the Library of Congress.

Jared Carter's earlier book, Darkened Rooms of Summer: New and Selected Poems, was the first book in Ted Kooser's Contemporary Poetry series, published by the University of Nebraska Press.

Carter's poem, and Kooser's comments about it, can be seen here: https://www.americanlifeinpoetry.org/columns/detail/786