Jared Carter

I picked up this collection of poetry because the poet is from a small town in Indiana near my mother's hometown. Carter's poetry captures the decline of rural Indiana, somewhere between wistfulness and melancholy. The Indiana of my memory now exists mostly in the cemetery, with the family and friends I loved who made it such a special place. It also exists in Carter's poetry, and I can still visit it there.

Reading this was like a walk in a refreshing spring rain. Carter, who comes from my home county in Indiana, references a dying rural and small town culture and it's helpful to know a little about that. One poem, which is about peonies, is about decorating graves. (Peonies are a traditional Memorial Day grave flower.) Three of the poems are called tintypes and are about historical Indiana figures (Sam Bass, Oliver Morton and John Dillinger.)

I felt Mr. Carter's poetry is reminiscent of Robert Frost's. That is, to me, a poetry that is tied to earth and has a warmth and richness and comfort to it.

A book that my grandmother gave me of my home state.