{"product_id":"abridged-erasure-poems","title":"Abridged: Erasure Poems","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eWebster’s does not contain an entry defining \u003cstrong\u003eTom C. Hunley\u003c\/strong\u003e. He loves poetry, which is made of silence and noise as much as of words. The lyric love child of one of the untranslatable roughs and one of the wiggy prophets come back, Tom attempted several times to read through the entire dictionary as if it were a novel, but he couldn’t keep track of the plot. By using erasure techniques, he did manage to find various stories within the dictionary, as well as a good deal of poetry, with its alliterations, double entendres, rhymes, imagery, and mystery. Essentially, he found a bridge between the dictionary and poetry in the form of the abridged dictionary in your hands. As for a definition of poetry, he suggests skipping the dictionary and reaching for a metaphor, such as Emily Dickinson’s definition of poetry as that which leaves her so cold that no fire could ever warn her, that which makes the top of her head feel like it may pop off; Robert Crawford’s definition of poetry as “the breast milk of language”; Garcia Lorca’s suggestion that poets ought to write as if they’re about to be devoured by ants; or Heather McHugh’s argument, in her poem “What He Thought,” that poetry is whatever passes through one’s head while one is wearing an iron mask, about to be burned at the stake for heresy. In addition to writing books such as \u003ci\u003eThe Poetry Gymnasium: 110 Proven Exercises to Shape Your Best Verse\u003c\/i\u003e (expanded second edition, McFarland, 2019), \u003ci\u003eAdjusting to the Lights\u003c\/i\u003e (Rattle Chapbook Prize, 2020), and \u003ci\u003eWhat Feels Like Love: New and Selected Poems \u003c\/i\u003e(C\u0026amp;R Press, 2021), he wrote the short film \u003ci\u003eYou’re Not Alone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\"\u003e,\u003c\/i\u003e produced by Forerunner TV Inc. in 2023 and adapted from a novel by Clint Margrave. Tom is a professor of English and Creative Writing at Western Kentucky University, where he has taught since 2003.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePaperback: 38 pages\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Kelsay Books (April 23, 2024)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kelsay Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43220578009150,"sku":"ptb1787286967948","price":9.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/0075\/8846\/files\/abridged-erasure-poems_1.jpg?v=1787286973","url":"https:\/\/urbanglamboutique.shop\/products\/abridged-erasure-poems","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}