LIKE the Appalachian mountain setting from which Gloss arises, the language in this collection is in flux, full of paradox and thresholds, each word and line a peak or a range. The poems create a kind of “landguage” or “langscape.” Indeed, the poems (mis)behave like little ecosystems, in which word-play, rhyme, and enjambment simultaneously make and break sense, join and repel—evoking the tensions between progress and resistance. Embedded among the strata of Gloss is loss: many poems respond to mountaintop removal coal mining, which is literally flattening the rich complexity of the Appalachian landscape and culture. The poems consider the delicate relationship between humans and nature, lover and beloved, as well as the natural complexity of communication and utterance, the struggle to say the unsayable.

 

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IDA STEWART holds an MFA in creative writing from Ohio State University and is currently pursuing a PhD in creative writing at The University of Georgia. She’s a co-editor of Unsplendid and has also served as an editorial assistant at The Georgia Review. A native of West Virginia, she currently lives in Athens, Georgia.