Emerge: Poems, by Greg Bem

Poetry, chapbook, 36 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Emerge: Poems is the latest publication from poet Greg Bem. This chapbook includes a splash of the poet’s latest explorations into sight and sound and poetic inquiry. Many of Bem’s latest poems briefly capture his experience in the natural world, especially the arid high desert of the Inland Northwest, near and beyond his home in Spokane, Washington. These poems range from wide sprawls to exacting and fluttering series.

In this collection, the reader is invited to slow down and examine the subtleties and exquisite textures of language, as they are derived from and emerge out of the world we collectively find ourselves. Through the complex and challenging contexts of our daily live in a high-pressure modernity, Bem explores what it is to exist. As witness to the brutality of such issues as climate change, hegemony, and bigotry, Bem finds solace in brief musings, knowing the mountains and the hills offer us a deeper wisdom and the potential for answers.

Greg Bem is a poet, librarian, and labor activist in Spokane, Washington. He co-organizes Foray for The Arts with poet Sarah Rooney, and is the publisher of Carbonation Press. He regularly writes book reviews for places like Rain Taxi, International Examiner, North of Oxford, and Exacting Clam. His experimental sound works can be found under the project name Talus Field.