The Book of Drought : Poems.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carney, Rob.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Droughts--Poetry.

Droughts.

Dystopias--Poetry.

Dystopias.

Genre:

Poetry.

Science fiction poetry.

Ecopoetry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (0 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

College Station : Texas Review Press, 2024.

Summary:

"Winner of The 2023 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, selected by Richard Blanco. In The Book of Drought, Rob Carney skips ahead to the ending, setting his unnamed Listen-Recorder in a near-future landscape newly wrecked by drought. Instead of water: dead lakebeds. Instead of wild animals: bones. The sky is now cloudless, and the city's faucets are dry. No one has adjusted yet, but some gather in an empty river to grieve, remember, and to tell their stories, the stories that become this book. Part dystopian warning, part dry-humor protest, part mythology and song-get ready for some sad-mad beauty, but with open-eyed hope"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

I. Origins

We Paint the Rocks Blue

we leave our relics here,

Now all that swims here are memories.

This river looked like a diamondback-

I guess you could call us all amateur pilgrims.

On our Wall of Rhetorical Questions,

This one moves like a butterfly,

I've forgotten, now, why I'm telling you this.

II. Gathering

Back When Water Was an Element,

They held a vote.

but the past tense is everywhere.

He tells me: "The wind

Don't ask me yet

The world was the world, and beautiful

Back when water was an element,

III. Reconstructing Fragments

Rules for the Name-That-Memory Contest:

Entry 1:

Entry 2:

Entry 3:

Entry 4:

Entry 5:

Entry 6:

And the titles of these entries, if you're wondering, in no particular order:

IV. Lessons

Kids Cut Right Through the Nonsense

Not all of them are so well-spoken,

His older sister-

"Now, this is 'The Story of Cats'-

And so on, and so on.

I know that's ridiculous.

We aren't tundra swans

But it isn't easy.

V. Bonds

When Water Was Still an Element,

They elected me to say that,

I'm not sure I can do it.

I probably can't do it, not really.

And there were daffodils too,

She says, "They always had almonds

He says, "I wish I would've

One friend remembers her sister.

VI. Fables

New Times Call for New Fables,

The bear had a cave,

at least it seemed to be

The birds tried singing to the sky

Might as well reason with a rattlesnake

The heron looked down and saw rivers

The sky is the father of lightning

Most times, nobody speaks now.

VII. Bones

The Bones, of Course,

The stars shine brighter now

A kid wrote this letter to the future:

And another wrote this letter to the past:

And a woman just handed me a postcard with this on the back:.

And a girl sent this one to the governor:

They asked me to record these things,

like we were people.

VIII. Rain

If the Drought Breaks,

"If the drought breaks,

And so on, and so on

That's what a drought does-

But not when we gather here

And if the drought breaks,

And if it breaks,

Which reminds me of a story:

Acknowledgments

About the Author.

Notes:

X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, 2023.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781680033939

168003393X

OCLC:

1499719502