{"product_id":"sprawl-poems-paperback","title":"Sprawl: Poems - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAndrew Collard\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThese lyrical poems about growing up and becoming a parent in Detroit reflect deeply felt connections to places and experiences that inevitably fall victim to irrevocable change.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSprawl\u003c\/i\u003e is a reconstruction of the constantly shifting landscape of metropolitan Detroit, which extends over six counties and is home to over four million people, from the perspective of a single parent raising a young child amid financial precarity. Part memoir, part invention, the book is Andrew Collard's attempt to reconcile the tenderness and sense of purpose found in the parent-child relationship with ongoing societal crises in the empire of the automobile. Here, a mansion may contrast with a burned-out home just up the street. How does one construct a sense of place in such a landscape, where once-familiar neighborhoods turn to strip malls or empty lots and the relationships that root us dissolve? \u003ci\u003eSprawl\u003c\/i\u003e suggests that there is solace in recognizing that when we ask this question, we are never alone in asking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWithin the larger geographical space of the metropolis are the in-between places of personal significance: the gas stations, burger joints, malls, and parking lots where many of the defining moments of ordinary lives occur. These poems take deep inspiration from such places, insisting on the value of the people found there, along with their experiences. What might be considered high and low culture are as inextricably linked in the formal cues of the poems as they are in the Michigan landscape, influenced by pop music, midcentury modern aesthetics, comic books, and cars.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile the \u003ci\u003esprawl\u003c\/i\u003e of the title refers to the seemingly endless succession of businesses and neighborhoods extending north from Detroit (\"a sprawl this extensive breeds \/ empty pockets\"), it also invokes the sprawl of history through poems that move between the past and present. One sequence of poems built on old newspaper clippings draws attention to a Chrysler plant that once constructed Redstone missiles. Elsewhere, two poems refer to the Detroit newspaper strike of the 1990s, a local controversy with lasting implications for the community. \u003ci\u003eSprawl \u003c\/i\u003eultimately illuminates the relationship of one place to other places, contextualizing its characters and locales within a wider societal frame.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAndrew Collard\u003c\/b\u003e's poems have appeared in \u003ci\u003ePloughshares, AGNI, Virginia Quarterly Review, Best New Poets, \u003c\/i\u003e and elsewhere. He currently lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his son and their cats.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 94\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.4 x 8.2 x 5.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 28, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42174829232263,"sku":"9780821425282","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/1ff6f917f12bec492e5ecfab2c8fc886.webp?v=1733377120","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/sprawl-poems-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}