{"product_id":"oil-courses-9781606355114","title":"Oil Courses","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2025 Winner of the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrounded in deep concern about the climate crisis, Carolyn\u003cbr\u003eWilliams-Noren's \u003ci\u003eOil Courses\u003c\/i\u003e recalls a family reliant on the oil\u003cbr\u003eindustry--her father worked for British Petroleum in Anchorage, Alaska--and a\u003cbr\u003esummer spent in its service on Endicott Island. What \"curriculum\" has oil\u003cbr\u003eoffered each of us? To answer, \u003ci\u003eOil Courses\u003c\/i\u003e turns to strange happenings in\u003cbr\u003ethe changing landscape and in our interior lives, magnifying odd scenes that\u003cbr\u003eonce seemed ordinary and filing them under the names of school subjects such as\u003cbr\u003ephysics, economics, and history.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn these poems, the absurd, the beautiful, and the alarming collide. Tiny fish begin to swim sideways, \u003cbr\u003epoisoned. The permafrost melts. Whales are hunted and skinned. The high school\u003cbr\u003eyearbook features students who have hit moose with their cars. The speaker of\u003cbr\u003eone poem wins a trophy for an essay on the subject \"What Petroleum Means to Me,\" presented\u003cbr\u003eby a group of women called the \"Petroleum Wives.\" \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eOil Courses\u003c\/i\u003e speaks to our collective reliance on exploitative industries and questions our\u003cbr\u003eresponsibilities and relationships to the natural world. These poems are droll, \u003cbr\u003erevealing, and ultimately haunting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Kent State University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781606355114\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 84","brand":"Carolyn Williams-Noren","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52801332543669,"sku":"9781606355114","price":16.11,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/oil-courses-9781606355114","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}