Lures

"Written almost exclusively in traditional, modified, and nonce forms, the poems in Lures renegotiate grief, trauma, southern masculinities, and fatherhood with unflinching resolve. This new collection by Adam Vines draws much of its subject matter and imagery from fishing, reflecting how close observations of species, spawning cycles, predation and feeding patterns, underwater topographies, water clarity, and lure choice reflect larger themes of what it means to be lured through memories of those who have passed and those who remain present. Vines also explores fatherhood with a precocious daughter who presents questions that, through their wonderment with the world, allow the father to rethink his identity and grief and learn that he is not condemned to the same self-destructive paths his patrilineality followed too often. Not merely elegiac, Vines's poems rely on memory and loss as experience as well as malleable myth. Lures proposes that by reconstructing the stories from our past, we gain a greater understanding of our cultural identities and inheritances from those who made an impact on our lives"--