{"product_id":"teaching-the-baby-to-say-i-love-you","title":"Teaching the Baby to Say I Love You","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTeaching the Baby to Say I Love You\u003c\/em\u003e, Craig Beaven takes the reader on a heartfelt journey through the current American political landscape. In the first sequence, within the threat of classroom gun violence, he explores love, race, language, and terror. A second sequence makes those fears personal and individual, and the third traces these topics into a deep, historical roadtrip through the American South. He questions our ideas of terror in a world where dread and violence are perpetrated by the government, police officers, students, and neighbors hiding behind social media aliases. Throughout, Beaven's poems engage. \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTeaching the Baby to Say I Love You\u003c\/em\u003e examines our present, often chaotic world, with a powerful weapon — gripping, contemplative, and complex language.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCraig Beaven's\u003c\/strong\u003e collections of poetry are \u003cem\u003eTeaching the Baby to Say I Love You\u003c\/em\u003e (Anhinga Prize for Poetry, 2021), \u003cem\u003eNatural History\u003c\/em\u003e (Gerald Cable Book Award, 2019) and \u003cem\u003eTeaching English Lit on the Day After a Shooting\u003c\/em\u003e (CutBank Chapbook Prize, 2022). He is the recipient of fellowships and scholarships to the Sewanee Writers Conference, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Martha's Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing. His poems have appeared in \u003cem\u003ePrairie Schooner, Western Humanities Review, Carolina Quarterly, Hollins Critic, Atlanta Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, the Best New Poets anthology\u003c\/em\u003e, and many others. A Kentucky native, Beaven earned an MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University and a PhD from the University of Houston. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"From the first pages of Craig Beaven's memorable book, I care — deeply — about this speaker and his characters. Here is a white father trying to protect his Black children in a treacherous world. Here is a teacher whose students are twisted up in the maelstrom of racism and staggering gun violence.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eEllen Bass\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Craig Beaven's language isn't neutral or safe or defensive — it wrestles with the never-ending violence of racism and school shootings. There's no gulf between the personal and the public here.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eEduardo C. Corral\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Worry is central to these elegant, meditative poems, yet Beaven finds opportunities to hold fear and wonder simultaneously. His poems are reminders that gentle revelations can inoculate even as they help us to embrace the momentary joys around us.\" -\u003cstrong\u003e Adrian Matejka\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"With insight into the constant, complicated work of the teacher and the parent, Craig Beaven leads his reader with narrative verve and emotional keenness through waves of accruing implication and out far into the deep, troubled waters of race, violence, and our country's ever-unfolding, always troubled present moment.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eCarrie Fountain\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Itasca Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54526349115667,"sku":"9781934695753","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0948\/3521\/2563\/files\/9781934695753ita.jpg?v=1785851456","url":"https:\/\/danuc.net\/products\/teaching-the-baby-to-say-i-love-you","provider":"Danu's Wardrobe","version":"1.0","type":"link"}