Awkward Scrapes

Awkward Scrapes is its own equinox. Distributing love evenly. Ascribing "sacred" status to domesticity, centering fatherhood, and appreciating the beauty in everything that lives between the coral and the trees … what higher, more honest work could a poet ever do?

The cycle of pain is forever—" but there are places "where tender things are named," and in that naming—even in our current "unholy country"— Eric Scott Sutherland finds a commitment to annotating and preserving family, place, and the rhythms of the natural world. "I am fierce / in my defense / of home" the poet declares, and his defense is making for us the most memorable "lyrical tapestries." Awkward Scrapes is an arresting poetry driven by the poet's signature short-lines, favorite music, sonic play, spoken-word energy, and a dogged search for inspiration and joy.

The poems in Awkward Scrapes are the best kinds of love songs, never sentimental and always powerful. They are meditations on romantic love, on the profound connections we have with our children and the natural world, even on life itself. This book is a celebration of all that makes us human: the awfulness and the beauty, sometimes tangled. Sutherland is one of my favorite poets and I loved every carefully chosen yet organic word.