{"product_id":"beaukl","title":"Beautiful Aches, by Ken Letko","description":"\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ePoetry, chapbook, 36 pages, from \u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b00ff;\"\u003e\u003ca style=\"color: #2b00ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/collections\/bottlecap-features\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBottlecap Features\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003eThe poems in \u003cem\u003eBeautiful Aches\u003c\/em\u003e were created from 2021 through 2024, so some were written during the COVID pandemic and in small ways affirm the solace and comfort poetry affords in the face of dark, troubled times. “Why I Enjoy Sleep,” for example, attests to the way sleep can meld dream and memory into a unique personal pleasure. “The Sleeping Boat” uses sleep as a metaphor to honor centuries’ old insights developed by people who used close observation and interaction with the natural world as a means of survival, highlighting how “yesterday waits for tomorrow.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003eWhile several poems in \u003cem\u003eBeautiful Aches\u003c\/em\u003e center on sleep, others accentuate the beauty, power, and inspiration that can be found in plants, animals, and landscapes. The poem “Mentors” recognizes the way “gophers penetrate \/ darkness and leave \/ a passage to light.” Overall, this chapbook offers a Twenty-First Century Pilgrim a small journey, mostly within the natural world, where “hopelessness and hope \/ have the same beginning.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003eKen Letko’s poems have been published in numerous journals and anthologies, including \u003cem\u003eAbandoned Mine\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCæsura\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCalifornia Quarterly\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCottonwood\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eEarth’s Daughters\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eLake Effect\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eRattle\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eRavens Perch\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSpillway\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eValley Voices\u003c\/em\u003e. Both the \u003cem\u003eNorth American Review\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ePoetry South\u003c\/em\u003e have nominated his poems for Pushcart awards. He lives in the redwoods of California’s northernmost coastal county, Del Norte, where he enjoys juggling and gathering firewood. Flowstone Press published his book \u003cem\u003eBright Darkness\u003c\/em\u003e in 2017 and his sixth chapbook \u003cem\u003eChopping Wood in the Moonlight\u003c\/em\u003e in 2021. \u003cem\u003eBeautiful Aches\u003c\/em\u003e is his seventh chapbook.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ken Letko","offers":[{"title":"Chapbook","offer_id":50123092132155,"sku":"BEAUKL","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (PDF)","offer_id":50123092164923,"sku":"BEAUKLe","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0062\/4420\/4614\/files\/achesfront.png?v=1742670070","url":"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/products\/beaukl","provider":"Bottlecap Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}