A Madness of Blue Obsidian

In this dazzling and impressive collection, Sheets writes wonder, beauty, mystery, and awe onto what feels like a new contemporariness. Throughout the book, the poet exists as both seeker and what is sought as he examines deeply the esoteric practices that color his lens, practices such as alchemy, occultism, and Hermeticism, notably observed from a perspective of what could only be considered a dynamic poetics of being, pulsating with a linguistic tone and spirited vocabulary that serve to recall the aesthetic power of surrealism and modernism. Poems ice over and ignite in equal measure as the poet transforms image into sanctity. His declarations, often imbued with the radiant gems of a poet's personal myth-making, are equally universal in their urgency, as when he writes:

We have

only this much

in common:

we come

then become

keepers of things.

You set fire

to a wreck of dire roses

and flicker

like an ever-burning lamp

fueled by the charm

of a deeper system.

This book renders a gift of fresh memory. It renews at every one of its sections the beginning of a mythologically charged human experience. If poetry has the force to activate a shift of consciousness, or mystical experience, then Sheets, who "settled effortlessly into the mantle of modern mystic" in The Hour Wasp, continues to prove with this book that he is a true poetic force.

Jason Adam Sheets comesfrom a lineage of Appalachianmusicians, songwriters, poets, and preachers. He earned aMaster's of Th eological Studiesin Th eopoetics from HarvardDivinity School, where herecently served as a TeachingFellow. His research focuseson how poetic language worksto evoke religious experience.Sheets' commitment to the fi eldcan be seen in his work as a poet and essayist. Books include V Verse Is I(AGP, 2025), A Madness of Blue Obsidian (AGP, 2022), Th e Hour Wasp(AGP, 2017), and Th eopoetica: An Anthology (AGP, 2022). New poemsappear in POETRY (March, 2024) and Modern Language Studies(Winter, 2025). A Pushcart Prize nominee, his writing was recentlyfeatured in Harvard Magazine and by Oxford University's ResearchCentre in the Humanities. He teaches for Poetry in America, inaffi liation with the eponymous PBS television series and in conjunctionwith the National Education Equity Lab, and has worked as a writingand publishing mentor for AWP's Writer to Writer mentorshipprogram. His work has been supported by Harvard University, PENAmerica, Poets & Writers Magazine, and Mass Cultural Council.177