Hillbilly Drug Baby: The Poems

The prevalence of drugs in the Appalachian area of our country is no secret, but it is rare to be able to step into the mind and thoughts of someone caught in the middle of a drug-infested life and culture and see life as they see it. Jesse-Ray Lewis gives us the opportunity to do just that. The words are sometimes harsh and the visualizations raw, but they are reality for Jesse-Ray Lewis who grew up in Appalachia surrounded by violence, drug dealing, and addiction. He entered foster care at age 12 and aged out of the system in 2016 at age 18. The poems start out as an elegy, a mournful expression of his sad beginnings. Then they begin to show hope as the author attempts rise up out of that shattered childhood as a quest for answers and a search for a new beginning.