{"product_id":"second-nature-hardcover","title":"Second Nature - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 23\u003csup\u003erd\u003c\/sup\u003e annual Poulin\u003cbr\u003ePrize \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eChaun Ballard's gripping debut collection weaves childhood experiences, \u003cbr\u003ehistorical events, and family stories into a living tapestry of memory that\u003cbr\u003ecelebrates the landscape of Black America, both rural and urban.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRiddled with the ghostly voices of family and\u003cbr\u003efriends, \u003ci\u003eSecond Nature \u003c\/i\u003eis fearless in\u003cbr\u003eits wrestling with America's fractured past and troubled present. In these\u003cbr\u003epoems, W.E.B. DuBois and Fredrick Douglass have a conversation, Michael Brown\u003cbr\u003emeditates on the nature of the cosmos, Johnnie Taylor's guitar sings in\u003cbr\u003esonnets, and the road Walt Whitman set out upon comes alive for a new\u003cbr\u003egeneration. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough innovative re-imaginings of the\u003cbr\u003esonnet, the pastoral, and the contrapuntal, Ballard engages with popular\u003cbr\u003eculture while examining the intricacies of all that is wedded together--form and\u003cbr\u003econtent, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, husband and wife, \u003cbr\u003eand a nation long dependent on created binaries that serve to maintain\u003cbr\u003estructures of oppression. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInterspersed with quotations and inspired by\u003cbr\u003ethe rich legacy of poets who came before him--including poet Matthew Shenoda\u003cbr\u003ewho provides an insightful Foreword to the collection--\u003ci\u003eSecond Nature\u003c\/i\u003e is\u003cbr\u003ea testament to interconnectedness, a love letter to the deep roots that we come\u003cbr\u003efrom, and a reminder of the myriad ways in which one's identity is shaped by\u003cbr\u003ecommunity and country.---","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51378558370015,"sku":"9781960145659","price":37.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/tUMIdI5UUb9781960145659.webp?v=1789258052","url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/products\/second-nature-hardcover","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}