The Underflower, Poems by Jay Snodgrass
The
Underflower by Jay Snodgrass rips apart the fabric of spiritual
poetry—psalms—and the landscape of Southern Florida, weaving
them together into something strange, colorful, and new. Snodgrass's unsettling,
distinctive vision invites us to consider the relationship between the
spirit and our world in a new way.
"There is great tension and suspense in each of Jay Snodgrass’ poems because every line has a master plot of language. You cannot predict what word may come next, and the words--glorious, twisted, uproarious--create complicated and divine poems, like otherworldly spirals of DNA. In The Underflower, Snodgrass enters the spiritual by way of the commercial and the dark, turbulent dream-like world of the ordinary. As if speaking in tongues, he has created a new holy language."--Julianna Baggott, author of Lizzie Borden in Love and Compulsions of Silk Worms and Bees
"Jay Snodgrass, pound for pound (the pun is intended), is a young, kick ass-poet who is writing these poems that grab you by the lapels and shake you, make you drop your memories out of your pockets on to the streets of the world in which you live. I mean it, he is one exciting voice adding songs to the canon of American poetry I just can't resist, and I've been following his career from the days when he was a bootlegger in South Florida, a place that serves as his daily muse. No wonder these are the best poems he's written yet."--Virgil Suarez
Jay Snodgrass was born in Boca Raton, Florida and grew up on and around Yokota AFB Japan. He has an MFA from Florida International University and is working on a PhD at Florida State University. He is the author of Monster Zero (Elixir Press, 2002), poems about Godzilla. He lives in Tallahassee, FL with his wife, Kristine, and their daughter Abigail.
ISBN: 978-1933456645, softcover, 88 pages, $17.00