{"product_id":"second-nature-9781960145659","title":"Second Nature","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the 23\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003erd\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e annual Poulin Prize, Chaun Ballard's gripping debut collection weaves childhood experiences, historical events, and family stories into a living tapestry of memory that celebrates the landscape of Black America, both rural and urban. \u003c\/strong\u003eRiddled with the ghostly voices of family and friends, Second Nature is fearless in its wrestling with America's fractured past and troubled present. In these poems, W.E.B. DuBois and Fredrick Douglass have a conversation, Michael Brown meditates on the nature of the cosmos, Johnnie Taylor's guitar sings in sonnets, and the road Walt Whitman set out upon comes alive for a new generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough innovative re-imaginings of the sonnet, the pastoral, and the contrapuntal, Ballard engages with popular culture while examining the intricacies of all that is wedded together-form and content, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, husband and wife, and a nation long dependent on created binaries that serve to maintain structures of oppression.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInterspersed with quotations and inspired by the rich legacy of poets who came before him-including poet Matthew Shenoda who provides an insightful Foreword to the collection-Second Nature is a testament to interconnectedness, a love letter to the deep roots that we come from, and a reminder of the myriad ways in which one's identity is shaped by community and country.---\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChaun Ballard\u003c\/b\u003e is a doctoral student of poetry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the author of the chapbook \u003ci\u003eFlight \u003c\/i\u003e(Tupelo Press), which received\u003cbr\u003ethe 2018 Sunken Garden Poetry Prize. Ballard's\u003cbr\u003epoems have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNarrative Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOxford Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePoetry\u003cbr\u003eNorthwest\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Missouri Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003cbr\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, and other\u003cbr\u003eliterary magazines. Ballard lives in Lincoln, NE.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51213181550866,"sku":"9781960145659","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c6727191-ac97-4e96-ae2e-53d78eaecddc.jpg?v=1745362167","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/second-nature-9781960145659","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}