If Lost

Summary

Inspired by the mountains, forests, animals, and people of Appalachia, If Lost is Clint Bowman's exhilarating debut about how these elements collide and struggle to co-exist in an ever-changing landscape. Bowman's poems are a guide through this beautiful, brutal, and often misunderstood world where threats to the region come from all sides. Invasive species strangle the trees around corrupt churches and failing convenience stores, while truckers cry in parking lots and deer contemplate death along the highway. In If Lost, Bowman demonstrates how everyone and everything is lost in some way, but that it's possible to find a way out.

Praise for If Lost 

“You can feel the thickness in the air, the smells, and the overgrown nature of it all. A poetry deeply connected to the place from which it comes.”

—Keith Zarriello, musician and lead singer of The Shivers

“In this astounding collection, truckers cry, milkweed and honeysuckle overtake, poinsettias wilt in winter frost, and bear hunters haunt the stories of our conscience...”

—Garrett Ashley, author of Periphylla, and Other Deep Ocean Attractions

“If Lost offers us a starkly honest and rarely seen western North Carolina, with all its diverse species in bitter harmony… We cannot know what the future holds for this delicate region and its people, but these poems will keep you warm and light your way.”

—Leah Hampton, author of F*ckface and Other Stories

“…Bowman encompasses the complexity and beauty of what it means to be from the American South, capturing the quiet, sometimes bleak magic that encompasses his world.” 

—Thomas Dollbaum, musician