Friends!
Jack Slocomb’s Native Tongue, vol. 2: spring/summer is officially out and about in the world!
It brings me a lot of joy to have Native Tongue existing as a complete set. When Jack originally sent me the manuscript, i planned to release it all as one collection, but as i worked through it, spending time in Jack’s Alleghenies and really letting the world of the poems seep into me, the idea that the manuscript should be broken into a pair bubbled up from somewhere. Part of it, i’m sure, was the desire to hand-bind whatever book the manuscript turned into (how could these poems exist in anything but a hand-bound book?), but i think the driving force was the poems themselves. Something in their ordering wanted to be grouped into two piles, almost like they were being attracted to different magnetic poles: the quieter, earthtone poems of the fall and winter congealed on one side, and the lively, verdant poems of the spring and summer grouped up on the other. And, i honestly just ran with it (you don’t argue when poems tell you what they want to do and where they want to go).
In vol. 1, we got a taste of the Alleghenies as the world closed up shop for the season, as the openness of yellow and red flecked woods drowsed into silence and pristine white. We were invited into solitude and introspection. In vol. 2, Jack welcomes us to the siblinghood of spring, to the sheer communal joy of summer. We are asked to be a part of the world, to stitch ourselves to daily expressions and experiences. He gives us cupfuls of life being lived and shared. And, while it may not completely slake of thirst for what we’ve been missing for the past 8 months, it definitely eased my parchedness quite a bit.
It is also deeply, deeply comforting to me to know that Jack is still out there in the Alleghenies, diligently walking both old and new paths, enjoying every inch of the land, taking keen note of what needs paying attention to, and offering his hand as invitation into the clear, bracing waters of life.
A virtual launch for vol. 2 is in the works, but for now please visit akinogapress.com/books/nativetongue2 to order a copy.
–mz
