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September 29, 2021 by

Philomath

Philomath

$16.00

Category: Poetry
  • Description

Description

Philomath by Devon Walker-Figueroa

Selected by Sally Keith as a winner of the 2020 National Poetry Series, this debut collection is a ruminative catalogue of overgrowth and the places that haunt us.

With Devon Walker-Figueroa as our Virgil, we begin in the collection’s eponymous town of Philomath, Oregon. We drift through the general store, into the Nazarene Church, past people plucking at the brambles of a place that won’t let them go. We move beyond the town into fields and farmland–and further still, along highways, into a cursed Californian town, a museum in Florence. We wander with a kind of animal logic, like a beast with “a mindto get loose / from a valley fallowing / towards foul,” through the tense, overlapping space between movement and stillness.

An explorer at the edge of the sublime, Walker-Figueroa writes in quiet awe of nature, of memory, and of a beauty that is “merelyexistence carrying on and carrying on.” In her wanderings, she guides readers toward a kind of witness that doesn’t flinch from the bleak or bizarre: A vineyard engulfed in flames is reclaimed by the fields. A sow smothers its young, then bears more. A neighbor chews locusts in his yard.

For in Philomath, it is the poet’s (sometimes reluctant) obligation “to keep an eye / on what is left” of the people and places that have impacted us. And there is always something left, whether it is the smell of burnt grapes, a twelfth-century bronze, or even a lock of hair.

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‘Books and Wine’

Our next book pick is The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. This month’s book club is June 10th. Come join us and enjoy lively, spirited discussion! RSVP by sending us a message.

Author Event with Mashall Thorton | June 3 at 6:00 PM

Spring is blooming, and Bay Books is celebrating PRIDE month with a special literary evening featuring three-time Lambda Award–winning author Marshall Thornton. Whether you’re a longtime fan or exploring LGBTQ literature for the first time, this event invites you to engage, reflect, and connect.

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