Derelict Tributaries

Poetry. "These beautiful poems are steeped in the dark tannin of loss. Redwater rivers, blackwater rivers—they carry on, tributaries distributing memories through the sandy landscape of home. The poems are formally measured, with an elegiac economy, quiet Eliotic echoes, the ever-presence of rain, tupelo, eelgrass, sparkleberry, oyster shell, snake. As they sensually evoke the Florida terrain, these elegant poems say there never was a Paradise to lose, we have only ever owned...
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Poetry. "These beautiful poems are steeped in the dark tannin of loss. Redwater rivers, blackwater rivers—they carry on, tributaries distributing memories through the sandy landscape of home. The poems are formally measured, with an elegiac economy, quiet Eliotic echoes, the ever-presence of rain, tupelo, eelgrass, sparkleberry, oyster shell, snake. As they sensually evoke the Florida terrain, these elegant poems say there never was a Paradise to lose, we have only ever owned recurrent waves of growth and inevitable regret."—Sidney Wade

"Lawrence Hetrick has given his collection of emptied landscapes, deserted promises, and dilapidated fields an accurate and telling title. DERELICT TRIBUTARIES portrays a world 'as real as what is here / and what is gone from here' with decisive, economical strokes, making a poetry that an artist like Edward Hopper would admire. Underneath the surface lies 'an icy hope,' but nothing is sentimentalized in this space as lonely as 'a radio playing old songs / Till dawn in a dark gas station.' I like this collection immensely! There is something a little Hardyesque about it; the unflinchingness, I guess, but also the strong and lonesome presence of the observer. A strong book!"—Fred Chappell