![hiku [pull] by James A. H. White (cover: Nicci Mechler)](https://porkbellypress.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/hiku.jpg?w=581&resize=581%2C346&h=346#038;h=346 "hiku")
James A. H. White’s work feels at once breathless and intense, reaching to capture vivid blooms of a life-history in poems grown so intricately together that they’re tangled, almost inseparable. It is the story of mother and father, of identity and travel and seeking and ghosts both behind and before. This is a tessellation of light, color, memory and story, a gay son fitting the pieces of self together and offering it up in poems. Each poem feels like a secret, each leaves you wanting more. (Porkbelly Press, 2016) // available in our shop
excerpt
Nagai Kotoba
[“Long Words”]
he stands at the back door and looks out over the yard the shed the city below us confessing to me how he didn’t believe he could forgive himself for the decisions he has made
for how he felt his temperament abhorrent his actions unforgivable before returning to the table to pull more tiles from the velvet bag and play a word on the Scrabble board I’ve never heard of
.
“you can challenge me if you want” but I’m never sure with him the last thing he told me was that it’s unlucky to curl under flowers I don’t know the names of
about the poet
James A.H. White earned his M.F.A. in Creative Writing with a concentration in Poetry from Florida Atlantic University. A winner of the 2014 AWP Intro Journals Project award in Poetry, his writing appears in Colorado Review, Gertrude, Hermeneutic Chaos, Cha, and DIAGRAM, among others. Born in Surrey, England, James currently resides in South Florida, where he teaches creative writing and serves as an editor for 3Elements Review.
cover & art
The cover is inkjet printed on premium matte paper. It’s trimmed down to just under 6 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches and bound by hand with heavy thread.
Nicci Mechler » portfolio
“Jasmin on Red”
acrylic on paper& 9×12 inches
Porkbelly Press 