{"product_id":"9780977639533","title":"Totem","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Gregory Pardlo . . . wants to explore the druidic function of art, the works of jazz musicians, painters, poets, and others who live imaginatively, expand reality, and make imagination free.”—Brenda Hillman, from the introduction\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eTotem\u003c\/i\u003e , winner of the APR\/Honickman First Book Prize, is the debut of a poet who has been \u003ci\u003elistening\u003c\/i\u003e for decades. In his youth, Gregory Pardlo heard stories of factory hours and picket lines from his father; in the bars, clubs, and on the radio he listens to jazz and blues, the rhythms, beats, and aspirations of which all of which seep into his poems.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA former Cave Canem fellow, Pardlo creates work that is deeply autobiographical, drifting between childhood and adult life. He speaks a language simultaneously urban and highbrow, seamlessly switching from art analysis to sneakers hung over the telephone lines. Deeply rooted in a blue-collar world, he produces snapshots of a life that is so specific it becomes universal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eFrom “Vincent’s Shoes”:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eOn the wall above my desk: a pen\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eand ink affair which I copied\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003efrom a print hanging in the sushi\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003ebar down the block:\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003einflected necks of pedestrians on a bridge\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003ein the rain and here I hung\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003ethe hightops from a power line.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eIt was in me to do. I felt it in my gut\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003ethe way Vincent might have felt\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003ethe wheat fields and the smoking socket\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eof the sun rattling, tweezed days\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003elate into the ear of an aluminum bowl\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eGregory Pardlo\u003c\/b\u003e teaches at Medgar Evers College, The City University of New York, and lives in Brooklyn.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Copper Canyon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47035432927472,"sku":"9780977639533","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780977639533_p0.jpg?v=1763871043","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780977639533","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}