Shin Deep
Praise for Shin Deep
How does one blurb really fine poetry? That’s like bird droppings on clean white linen on a clothesline. I guess I would say that: “In this little book, you will find both the deepest meaning and meaninglessness of life. If you are afraid to cry, do not read it.”
—Gene Logsdon
Amy Groshek’s work not only reflects my literary genesis—those virtuoso heartland poets I read in the ’60s and ’70s—it moreover speaks to my very genetics, to the Polish-Italian DNA helices of my rural Wisconsin roots. Riffing like the feminine flipside to a John Mellencamp LP, SHIN DEEP turns stanzas into rock choruses into black-paged shapshots of the soulful, mournful folk of small-town America. This bushel basket of a book, this cornucopia of emotional honesty, is not, unfortunately, for everyone; it is for those who need to know where one of our most nutritional human foods, Poetry, is home-grown.
Shin Deep is a chapbook composed of narrative poems set at the tail end of the Farm Crisis. Some of the poems are first-person confessional (that is, stories told by yours truly), and some of them are dramatic monologues (that is, narrated by a fictional character). The poems focus on family relations and the relationships farmers have with the land and with animals.
Be forewarned: Shin Deep is not like all the other sappy, sentimental “I remember the good old days” books of poetry about farming. If you are a farmer, do not expect to be vilified by this book, and do not expect a tractor ride down memory lane. These poems attempt to look honestly at the finest workings of the family farm.
Want to read samples of poems from Shin Deep?
- “Egressive” in The Contrary, Fall 2007
- “The Revolutionary” in The Contrary, Fall 2006
- “Antipastoral: Dairymen” in The Contrary, Spring 2006
- “Paying the Bills” by Broadsided Press, 15 April 2006 [PDF download]
Shin Deep is now available for purchase on Amazon, and at Finishing Line Press.
If you live in the Madison area, you can also purchase Shin Deep locally at Avol’s Books, 315 West Gorham Street. They only keep two copies in store, so if you stop by and they’re gone, please let me know!