{"product_id":"creature-way-9781952411298","title":"Creature Way","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"I once included Harley Elliott in a group I referred to as \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Poets of the 6th Principle Meridian\" (the north-south line \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eused as a base for the Public Land Survey System that laid \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eout the hatch-work of green and brown quadrangles we see \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eas we fly over heartland America). He has lived for many \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eyears within a stone's throw of that meridian and his poems \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoften speak as straight as a section-line road about the beating \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehearts of prairie denizens. The forms of the poems on the \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003epages of Creature Way put me in mind of that characterization; \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eshort line lengths make the poems on their pages into graphic \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edepictions of prairie perspectives; apparently simple words \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eput together in what appear to be simple ways are revealed \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eby attentive reading to express insightful truths as inter- \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etwined and intense as the tillering subsurface webs that \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esustain prairie grasses through drought and fire and flood. \u003c\/p\u003eYou owe yourself this conversation with Harley Elliott.\"\u003cbr\u003e-Roy Beckemeyer, Author of \u003cem\u003eMouth Brimming \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e Over\u003c\/em\u003e (Blue Cedar Press, 2019)\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Few poets can meditate on a prairie scene (or any scene) \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewith Harley's wicked, intelligent wit. For instance, when \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eclimbing through a barbwire fence following a lovely woman, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHarley writes, \"If she turns and \/ parts the wires for you \/ \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecall the preacher.\" That's all Harley: voice and smarts and \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehumility and romance, all at once.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-Kevin Rabas (Poet Laureate of Kansas, 2017-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 2019), \u003cem\u003eAll That Jazz\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Harley Elliott is a homespun philosopher with a gifted earand the heart of a laughing scavenger.\"\u003cbr\u003e-Steven Hind\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Harley Elliott is the poet who made me want to be a poet. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis new book of revelations, \u003cem\u003eCreature Way, \u003c\/em\u003e continues to \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003einterrogate the relationship between humans and other \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eliving beings--including stones. The poem \"Turquoise\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003easserts, Some say it looks like sky. \/ Some say it is sky.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArtifice collapses. This is an essential book about the cosmos \u003c\/p\u003efrom the poet who changed my life. \"\u003cbr\u003e-Denise Low, Kansas Poet Laureate\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Spartan Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/12\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781952411298\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 94\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.24lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.99h x 5.00w x 0.23d","brand":"Harley Elliott","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36673365999772,"sku":"9781952411298","price":12.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_500d2db1-4dd2-4c65-a482-5dd47f7e6986.jpg?v=1603929605","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/creature-way-9781952411298","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}