Callaloo Workshop Faculty Member

Forrest Hamer's Middle Ear

These poems speak from Forrest Hamer's memories of his Southern childhood, weaving that time into the daily dreams and insights of his life in Northern California in a continuing series of vignettes -"Goldsboro Narratives" were published in The Best American Poetry 2000 The poet revisits questions about his father's military service, Vietnam, family, and loss. In philosophic yet lyric meditations on the natures of evil and identity-sexual and racial-Forrest Hamer quietly observes the "bargains" we make in coming to terms with ourselves, our communities, and our pasts. Yusef Komunyakaa has said, "Southern, American, universal-the voices [in Hamer's poetry] cohere into a seamless, symphonic bravo for human endurance."