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In The Throes Of Beauty by Kevin D. LeMaster

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Kevin LeMaster‘s poetry pulls his reader into the world of his poems, turning attention to the ordinary—smooth river stones, brittle cicada husks, a Styrofoam cup on a horseshoe stake–with heightened sensory awareness. He delivers simple images—a child’s handmade valentine, breaking beans, the hum of gas pumps—with the same deft hand as surprises—an upper lip preserved in a jar, a flying lesson off a ledge, “the fear of a bullet / tattooing the chest.” Despite his confession that he “never learned / the importance of/ listening until /there was no one left/ to listen to,” LeMaster’s poems give evidence that he moves through his world with his senses fully engaged.

–Nancy Posey

 

In a poetic landscape filled with prodigies and wunderkinds who seem to have been writing breathtaking poems since birth, it’s refreshing to find a veteran like Kevin LeMaster whose voice has been crafted from simple trial and error. LeMaster’s poems possess the kind of wisdom that comes from a life of what some fathers might call “real work.”
–Taylor Mali, author of “What Teachers Make”

 

In the Throes of Beauty, Kevin David LeMaster’s fine wrought collection of poems, rises like a melancholy hymn building to fill and then overspill the sanctuary of a church. It is a hymn to Appalachia, to its roughhewn grace; to its heart that skips and flies like a stone tossed across the surface of a river; and also to its slow crumble and sink, the despair outsiders fly over on their way to somewhere else. The speakers in these poems “wear[ ] the world / like a torn coat” as they try to navigate a life that can be like “a swallow of dry / leaves.” Lemaster keeps readers’ emotional volume turned up with a devastating, matter-of-fact restraint, with images that haunt like memory itself, with poems that push against the peril of “burning out like a match, struck / against the world.”

–Francesca Bell

 

 

 

 

 

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In The Throes Of Beauty

by Kevin D. LeMaster

Paper

$15.99 List: $17.99

979-8-88838-802-0

2024

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This title will be released on November 22, 2024

In The Throes Of Beauty includes poems of place and what it is like growing up in Appalachia. Some poems deal with grief, love and sorrow while other are centered around the land, lost ways of life and how the Ohio river interacts with all these factors. It is a cohesive collection of song in the grace of despair.

Kevin lives in Northeastern Kentucky with his wife of thirty-six years. Writing has alway been a passion of his, but not completely realized until his early forties when he joined a group of older poets known as The Phoenix Writers, from there he took the advice of seasoned poets and honed his craft with a deeper understanding of poetry and the elements that make up a good poem.

Kevin learned from many individuals in his poetry journey, primarily through Daniel Edward Moore and Taylor Mali was he able to grow and become the poet he is today. He believes that a poet never stops learning or believing in the poetry he creates. If we lose our humility, we’ve lost our humanity.

Kevin’s poems have been found at SheilaNaGig online, Gyroscope Review, Hive Avenue Literary Journal, Main Street Rag, Barely South Review, Mantis, Amistad and others.

Kevin has work forthcoming in Appalachian Places Magazine and BigCityLit Journal. His second chapbook In The Throes Of Beauty (Finishing Line Press) is forthcoming.

Kevin is the author of the chapbook Mercy (Arroyo Seco Press, 2023) and has been nominated for a Pushcart twice and once for a Best of Net.

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