Poetry and associated photographs of coming of age and inheritance in the Midwest.

The Inheritance: Poems and Photographs

Literature & Fiction

Hamm, Justin

Literary

Blue Horse Press

"To find the poetic landscape of Justin Hamm you need to "Look off in the direction the weathervane points, past the place where rain raps sideways against the silo," and suddenly you will find yourself inside the intricate ventricles of the human heart. What a tough beautiful little book of poems and photographs [The Inheritance] is-with sublime echoes of Richard Hugo: distant houses, fallowed fields, poems of work and love, signaling the arrival of Hamm as our new clear-eyed and sublime voice of the Midwest"\n- Sean Thomas Dougherty, author of The Second O of Sorrow 
". . . some of most authentic poetry you will ever read. . . [Hamm's] imagery tugs the reader into dreamscapes that reflect, with humor and love, the cultural and actual landscapes of the Midwest." 
- The Columbia Daily Tribune "Not just any blues-but that 'certain kind of blues music' Dylan refers to in liner notes for The Basement Tapes, where you 'can sit down and play it...you may have to lean forward a little.' And Hamm does just that, leans-'battered house Martin' in hand-camera in hand too-for this book includes a resonant counterpoint of black and white photographs that illuminate and extend the rust in these landscapes and their evaporating edges. These fine poems and photos are portraits 'framed in barnwood'-of willing ghosts and of a poet willing to thread his voice with theirs before that 'big dark leap into the empty'." 
Dennis Hinrichsen, author of Skin Music

Drinking Guinness with the Dead

Poetry

Spartan Press

"With undeniable intelligence, wit, and plenty of dark humor, Justin Hamm wrestles with mortality in his latest chapbook, O Death. Eschewing easy answers, these poems take a decidedly individualistic approach: "I'm only going where I want to go," proclaims the speaker. Ultimately, this collection is a brief testament to one man's pursuit of self-knowledge through "the cobwebby dark underneath" where the wish for returning with "fists full of everything that was taken," is acknowledged to be futile, but nevertheless, worth the fight." -Frank Paino, author of Pieta and Obscura "Through masterful erasure, Justin Hamm whittles works by literary and Delta Blues luminaries into spare bones-scaffolds upon which he hangs portraits of his inner world alongside tableaus of his beloved Midwest. Hear the slide guitar accompanying Hamm's plea in "Prayer to the Absent Father." In "Communion," feel the laughter passed around like bottles of beer to counter despair. Hamm's poems insist we remember everyone and everything that is lost while simultaneously wondering what comes next. They sing the possibilities of songs we need right now." -Amy Baskin, author of Night Hag and SKULL "Erasure poetry only works when you choose the right text to draw from. Though Justn Hamm's O Death takes its roots from the work of several different authors, it all comes together as one voice, Hamm's. What is left over on the page is heart, it is struggle, it is joy, it is lament and a true sense of the modern cultural landscape. In short, while the original authors may well have planted the seeds that make up this book, Justin Hamm has tended the garden and these poems, which are now solely his, have sprung up all around him and have become a rare thing of beauty." -John Dorsey, author of Pocatello Wildflower

O Death

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Books by Hamm, Justin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hamm, Justin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Inheritance: Poems and Photographs

Drinking Guinness with the Dead

O Death