Hips Unsocketed, Names Changed

• Main Author: Church, Austin L
• Published: Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange 2008
• Online Access: http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/347

This collection of poems represents my work from the past two years. I experiment with a variety of forms and measures, though most of these poems are in free verse. Two images serves as a cipher for understanding them as a whole: a peach tree and a red fox. Every year, I would wait in anticipation for the hard green buds to appear on the peach tree in my backyard, then, for them to change color, swelling with sweetness. By the time the ones that escaped the frost and insects were ripe enough to eat, I had forgotten about them and was surprised to see them on the kitchen table or catch a glimpse of red or orange in the leaves. Poetry has become my way of holding up my life’s fruits, my memories, to the sun to see how they have ripened. This metaphorical process of waiting and the renewed sense of discovery that comes with the long-awaited harvest define my experience of writing poetry. The second image, a red fox, has come to signify for me spiritual awareness and encounters with God in unexpected places. I have often seen red foxes in unlikely places. Poetry, for me, is a movement towards a deeper understanding of God. Poetry is searching for shalom in the midst of alienation, severed relationships, and ruptured selves. In summary, I seek a balanced and honest treatment of human heart-terrain, open to all emotions and experiences, with the ultimate aim of participating in God’s work of redemption and restoration.