Kevin Zepper is author of new release “Sugartown”
Kevin Zepper, Eng
lish, is the author of a new book of poems, Sugartown, recently published by Finishing Line Press. He is also the author of The Fifth Ramone: Prose Poems and I Bring You Dead Things.
The lead quote in Sugartown is “Dulcius Ex Asperis”, which is Latin for “After difficulty, sweetness.”
“This poetry book is about where I live or at least how I vision things in this region,” Zepper said. “Then, there’s the idea of “sweetness” in just about every piece. The theme of earthiness and humility are represented.”
About Sugartown:
“This new collection by Kevin Zepper is a slam and a celebration. In a tone both wistful and amazed, he alliterates, puns and raps his way from Pez candies to pot pies, from Icarus to Johnny Cash.”
– Lin Enger, author of Undiscovered Country
“Sugartown brims with the good stuff: beets, potatoes, all other staples of clean language and line.”
–Lisa Gill, author of Mortar and Pestle
“Kevin Zepper’s poems honor life in its many aspects, sensuous, sacred and absurd. The world is beautifully off-kilter in this fine collection…”
– Ruth Schwartz, author of Edgewater
Johnny Cash (from Sugartown)
Long thin rails,
Johnny walked every one
with an even pace
from the past
down the line.
Sting of tar
rises from railroad ties,
he continues,
over the back
of his black shirt
he catches the wayward whine
of a tired train
far beyond the hills
of Tennessee.
Flightless bird,
more hawk than raven,
jet eyes cut through coal lies,
set in high features
of his brown,
wrinkles in a Cherokee blanket.
