{"product_id":"real-work-poems","title":"Real Work: poems","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b00ff;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2023 Minnesota Book Award Finalist in Poetry\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe poems in Janna Knittel's new collection describe family life on the farm, celebrate natural environments that inspire deeply, process childhood emotions with the help of decades of living, and quietly assuage the wounds suffered due to personal crisis and loss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e A wooden box on a desk, a father's hands, the lives of rabbits and bees, a rare visit to church—these are a few of the subjects illuminated in these finely crafted pieces. A mother's dementia. Memories of a hardscrabble childhood: listening to the murmuring of voices from the back seat of a truck on long drives home from family camping trips; fishing with Dad; rolling cigarettes with a favorite aunt, roasting salmon whole over coals behind the church.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLocales in Oregon and Minnesota surface: Grand Portage, Isle Royale. Grief arrives with the unexpected death of an older and much admired sister. The details are sketchy but the pain is palpable. A lyric gravity infuses these stark yet often lovely pieces. The \"real work\" required on the farm has been transformed repeatedly into acts of literary precision and emotional honesty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJanna Knittel\u003c\/strong\u003e is from the Pacific Northwest and now lives in Minnesota. Janna's previous publications include the chapbook \u003cem\u003eFish \u0026amp; Wild Life\u003c\/em\u003e (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and poems in \u003cem\u003eBetween These Shores Literary and Arts Annual, Blueline, Breakwater Review, Constellations, Cottonwood, North Dakota Quarterly, Up North Lit, Whale Road Review\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eThe Wild Word,\u003c\/em\u003e among other journals, as well as the anthology \u003cem\u003eWaters Deep: A Great Lakes Anthology\u003c\/em\u003e (Split Rock Review, 2018). Janna has taught literature and writing classes at colleges and universities in Oregon, Kansas, and Minnesota, and has also published scholarly essays on literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The poems in \u003cem\u003eReal Work\u003c\/em\u003e come from the 'thin places' where 'Heaven and Earth overlap.' It is here that Knittel excavates love and loss, and the lessons they teach, guided always by salmon, kingfisher, raven, bear—by nature itself.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eConnie Wanek\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Janna Knittel's \u003cem\u003eReal Work\u003c\/em\u003e is filled with heft, the poems carrying the weight of farmlands and rural America. There's beauty and play, but with each turn, a blade is waiting to slice. 'Am I normal?' Knittel asks. 'Someone, weigh my heart.' We're given an elegy here, but not just for people—for a time, a place, an ethic—and in these poems Knittel makes room for living and healing.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eBrian Baumgart\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Knittel's collection focuses on family, the natural world, loss, fear, grief, and survival. Many of the poems celebrate places—islands, national parks, farms, homes, Oregon, Minnesota—and indigenous flora and fauna. Portraits and memories, especially of parents and a sister, now deceased, give rise to elegiac lines, for 'nothing hefts\/this slab of bluestone\/from my chest.' Yet Knittel's resilience, toughness, and the right tools propel her as on a river or a trail, knowing she's 'strong enough to carry everything [she needs].'\" -\u003cstrong\u003e Donna Isaac\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Revealing an expert and generous feel not only for the physical world but also the language, Janna Knittel's \u003cem\u003eReal Work\u003c\/em\u003e shows how central contemporary American poetry can be to our lives. Whether portraying family life or the creatures of the wilderness, Knittel writes with high-res clarity, lyrical economy, social conscience, and imagination. This is a superb debut.\" - \u003cstrong\u003ePeter Campion\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Itasca Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54526355538195,"sku":"9781947237506","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0948\/3521\/2563\/files\/9781947237506ita.jpg?v=1785851513","url":"https:\/\/danuc.net\/products\/real-work-poems","provider":"Danu's Wardrobe","version":"1.0","type":"link"}