Blood harmony / Bruce Snider.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Snider, Bruce, author.

Series:

Wisconsin poetry series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brothers--Poetry.

Brothers.

Gay men--Poetry.

Gay men.

Opioid abuse--United States--Poetry.

Opioid abuse.

Genre:

poetry.

Poetry.

Physical Description:

xi, 82 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Madison, Wisconsin : University of Wisconsin Press, [2025]

Summary:

"An unflinching tale of selfishness and sacrifice, guilt and resentment, hope and despair, Bruce Snider's fourth collection tells the story of two brothers torn apart by opioid addiction. These sublime poems paint a singular portrait of rural working-class America populated by shuttered tool factories and country gay bars, hidden fishing holes and Dolly Parton drag queens. Drawing on music and myth, science and history, Snider interrogates the bonds of family, exploring themes of masculinity, devotion, sexuality, and the biology of addiction. Yet for all its competing tensions, Blood Harmony leaves us with an enduring portrait of brotherhood defined as much by tenderness as by pain." -- Provided by publisher.

"The book is an extended narrative about brotherhood, addiction, queerness, and country music. It explores the impacts of opioid addiction and the construction of masculinity in rural America."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

I. Reading that Johnny Cash suffered from autonomic neuropathy when he recorded "Hurt"

Factory

[He said he was sorry, said he'd never do it again, again...]

[When the doctor put her hand to the prescription pad...]

[Brother of the free-throw shot...]

When my boyfriend says he hates country music

At the rainbow cattle company

To a Dolly Parton drag queen

[An older boy asks: what are you, fags?...]

[Because my brother was a man among men...]

Today. to be. to do.

[In the parable of the prodigal son...]

Our father and the machines

When our father forgets to the last verse of George Strait's "Fool Hearted Memory"

["The drinking game starts because...]

Dueling banjos

II. About the calf-skin head on Earl Scrugge's banjo

[The ghost that is my brother...]

[At the coffee shop my brother...]

[

I kept...]

[Because a man doesn't wince at a needle...]

Trio

[The casket is closed...]

[When a sober brother falls, he falls...]

[In the story of Esau...]

[When I look into our father's eye...]

Listening to "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" on my iPhone

[My brother watches Bugs Bunny...]

[And the skies saw his need, calling it Indiana...]

[and hadn't I poured gin straight...]

III. "The silence is unusually loud tonight"

Overture

[Dear brother...]

[In the story of Abel and Cain...]

[if brother is the map I keep reading...]

[Afterward, I saw him walking...]

Self-portrait as midwest dawn

Listening to Waylon Jennings's "Where Corn Don't Grow"

[In the passenger's seat, my boyfriend said: why didn't...]

[I tell my brother about a guy I love...]

[When I looked at him across the table...]

[Had the lake been frozen forever...]

[When i step inside, my brother asks: how'd it go?...]

Reading The Book of American Murder Ballads

Tracks

[For weeks I practiced surrender...]

[because I knew surrender was the crack...]

[I believe our father: did you see his eyes?]

Because America is a place the brain makes.

ISBN:

9780299355548

0299355543

OCLC:

1518919731