OLD STATE ROAD

In this suite of 25 interconnected poems, Jason Gerrish through his speaker Hal Lavoie, takes up a solitary residence in a Fleetwood trailer on a farm off Old State Road to teach himself to write.Old State RoadrepresentsHal's struggle to make sense of his previously squandered life and his attempt to chisel it into Art. Brad Dalton's accompanying25 ambrotype and tintype photographs of dilapidated rural scenes reinforce Gerrish's idea of time having slipped away and is captured in his stark, artistic images. George Douglas Anderson, Publisher & Editor Bold Monkey"... allow your eye some time to really absorb" Daulton's tin- or ambrotype photographs "the twisted trunks and vines, those layered textures of snow and field and barn and smokehouse, the lines and shadows of ax and banjo and the edgy contours of all those skulls and bones. The primal, visceral imagery in those visuals mirrors the intense and precise language in the poems and together they pack awalloping emotionalpunch that will keep you reeling for hours afterward." Dave Simms, Senior Editor at The Raw Art Review"For a grizzly old beaten poet, the opportunity and privilege to read Jason Gerrish' collection 'Old State Road' came like a rejuvenating snow storm that cleanly wiped the tracks and voices of what had gone before: these poems make a journey of their own: every poem: there are crevices you plunge into and that will scare you, they will make you reflective, they will make you laugh and cry: Gerrish then hauls your ass up and out of the crevice and points to a different direction and you gladly follow his authentic deliberate footsteps that are polished with a clarity of quality that grizzly old beaten poets rarely have the chance to read these days: poems like: the brilliant 'Crow': 'You Know a Loneliness' 'This Old Woman I like' 'Angst' 'Aideen' 'The Lone Oak' I haven't mentioned the outstanding, beautifully haunting photographs by Brad Daulton: buy this book and find out why 'Old State Road' will be one of this year's best for sure." John D Robinson, multiple Pushcart Prize nominated Poet