Happy Neighborhood explores through poetry and prose the
cultivation of contented place. How must men in particular sift
through the rewards, and belabored grudges, of their own childhoods
in order to move productively forward? These thoughtful, carefully
crafted meditations seek to define happiness at home. The poems
begin with daily walks, often with a dog, to the waterfront park
near the author's house in St. Petersburg, Florida. The essays, in
dialog with the verse, explore the personal, literary, cultural,
and historical questions that prompted the poems. Hallock's
influences and reading are wide ranging, though he draws especially
from seventeenth-century devotional traditions, in which the
reflective writing serves to bring the soul to a proper space of
rest. There is poetry about infidelity and marriage, fatherhood,
insomnia, a front porch hammock, political corruption, holy
communion, and homemade biscuits. Although seemingly content in
title, Happy Neighborhood candidly confronts the challenges the
author has faced as a father, spouse, and son. Hallock grapples
with finding peace in Florida, his adopted home state and not where
he ever chose to live. In becoming a father, he must unpack painful
emotions that he still carries, and not pass onto his own child.
And as a writer, he wrestles with artistic self-indulgence and the
need for poetry that can accomplish honest emotional work.
General
Imprint: |
Mercer University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
March 2023 |
Authors: |
Thomas Hallock
|
Pages: |
152 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-88146-909-7 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-88146-909-2 |
Barcode: |
9780881469097 |
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