{"product_id":"sense-of-direction-9781959346791","title":"Sense of Direction","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdvance Praise for \u003ci\u003eSense of Direction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHow do you live with the dead?-through memory and small gardens of elegiac goodbyes. From Ezra Pound to Sappho to \u003ci\u003eKing Lear\u003c\/i\u003e to John Prine, these beautiful poems ask the question: \"Why go through all of this wonder alone?\" Rob Merritt teaches us, in the most tender and thoughtful ways, what he's learned from living. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- \u003cb\u003eWilliam Walsh\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eLakewood\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFly Fishing in Times Square\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his personal \u003ci\u003eDesiderata\u003c\/i\u003e, Rob Merritt leads us through love, loss, and light and the lessons gleaned in between. \"Do the best with your years,\" he encourages us in his wise, bighearted collection, \u003ci\u003eSense of Direction\u003c\/i\u003e. Through his wandering and wondering about the mystery of it all, he invites us to leave the guidebook behind to see how beautiful the world really is. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- \u003cb\u003eLinda Parsons\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eValediction: Poems and Prose. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRob Merritt's collection of poems, \u003ci\u003eSense of Direction, \u003c\/i\u003e unravels with elegies and visitations. This engaging collection mines the unexplainable. Merritt populates poetry that includes famous writers, poets, artists, and others. He's not afraid to explore deeply, whether through the style of long lines or short lines. \u003ci\u003eSense of Direction\u003c\/i\u003e urges us to contemplate, imagine, and probe. Let's travel with this poet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- \u003cb\u003eLenard D. Moore\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Geography of Jazz\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLong Rain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his newest work of poetry, \u003ci\u003eSense of Direction, \u003c\/i\u003e Rob Merritt returns to a reconfiguration of home. In this setting, the reader is invited to share the lonely trails of Appalachia, the gravesites of relatives, their relatives, and long evenings when romance is making up its mind and memories once again; home, where local bourbons and clear boundaries mix themselves uncertainly into the night.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike Odysseus's nostos to Ithaca, the author has returned home as if for the first time, where each of us found our first place, a place of endless rebirth; a homeland.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- \u003cb\u003eRobert Borcykowski\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThis Side of the Promised Land.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRob Merritt is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing at Bluefield University.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in North Carolina, he lives in the mountains of West Virginia. He has published the poetry collections \u003ci\u003eView from Blue-Jade Mountain \u003c\/i\u003e(Finishing Line Press), \u003ci\u003eThe Language of Longing \u003c\/i\u003e(Old Seventy Creek Press), Landscape Architects (Pudding House Press), and the critical book \u003ci\u003eEarly Music and the Aesthetics of Ezra Pound\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis poetry and essays have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe North American Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eKestrel\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePine Mountain Sand and Gravel, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003ePsaltery \u0026amp; Lyre\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe James Dickey Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Asheville Poetry Review\u003c\/i\u003e, among other journals, and the collections \u003ci\u003eThe Southern Poetry Anthology, Vol. VII: North Carolina\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eWild Sweet Notes II: Contemporary West Virginia Writers; \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Coal: An Anthology.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMerritt has taught poetry in China and has been drawn to the work of Chinese Rivers and Mountain poets.\u003cp\u003eHe is on the eternal search for home.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Redhawk Publications","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51807252119826,"sku":"9781959346791","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fe85adda-2d4c-4efc-98ed-86ed1d804665.jpg?v=1766048120","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/sense-of-direction-9781959346791","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}