Gracious: Poems from the 21st Century South

 

Book Description:

John Poch's newly curated collection, Gracious: Poems of the 21st Century South, spotlights both emerging and notable voices from this poetry-rich region. This book promises to be the best and most influential anthology of Southern poetry published in over thirty years. Gracious steers away from stereotypical mockingbird-and-magnolia verse and instead amplifies a variety of lyric voices covering a wide breadth of Southern experience. Bryan Giemza's timely introduction situates the anthology among the current discourse in Southern studies. Gracious features the work of some of our best-known poets alongside those who have just published their first books. In all, there are eighty-four poets included whose work moves both the heart and the intellect. Gracious is, in the end, a new poetic geography, a book that strives to define Southern poetry for a generation to come. It is a book intended not only for the classroom; it aims to capture the imaginations of readers of all ages and backgrounds.

 

Author Bio:

John Poch is the author of five collections of poetry, including Texases (WordFarm Press, 2019). His poetry has been published widely and has won many prizes including the Nation/“Discovery” Award, the Donald Justice Prize, and The New Criterion Poetry Prize. He is President's Excellence Research Professor in the Department of English at Texas Tech University.