Iowa: Poems by Lucas Hunt + a Fiona Friday pic

I haven't read any poetry in quite some time so I was super excited to get a copy of Iowa by Lucas Hunt. I've read two other volumes of poetry by the author and enjoyed them both.

Iowa is just what it sounds like: poetry set in the state of Iowa, where the author grew up. Because I grew up in the Plains, there is a lot of subject matter I totally relate to in Iowa. Here's a great example:

Hawks

They take the air like words in blue display,

planes of rain that pass with outspread wings

and ride round the sky in sure, slow turns

to hunt hypnotic, float and dive--

birds witness wider fields,

their eyes survey a storm and pass

through light that changes everything in space.

~p. 19

The author has a lovely way of bringing the experiences of growing up in Iowa to life, whether he's talking about riding a bike down a dusty road or lying in a corn field with a girlfriend, the type of beer can you're most likely to see by the road, the experience of working on a farm. It's all very reminiscent of home to someone who grew up in similar territory. I got a particular buzz out of any poem with wind and wheat, my two favorite things about Oklahoma. Seriously, I love wheat fields.

Here's another excerpt (not the full poem):

Rusty and dusty on blacktop pavement

American flags in yards

train trestles piled by the tracks

country on the radio

deer sausage

chills in the bed of our Chevrolet.

~from "Wheatland Car Wash", p. 65

Highly recommended - A wonderful, transportive volume of poetry full of slice-of-life Americana in verse. You'll especially love this book if you appreciate the Plains or you're from Iowa, but there's something for every poetry lover in Iowa.

And, it's Friday but I didn't take any great photos of the cats, this week, so Fiona Friday is a cheat -- one of the photoshopped pictures of my girls that were done by people in my online cat group, this one of a conga line by Lauren Boutz. I can't look at this without smiling.

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