Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

Poets and Poems: Justin Hamm and “The Inheritance”

By Glynn Young 3 Comments

I’m reading the poems of The Inheritance by poet and photographer Justin Hamm, and I realize how easy it would be to say “rural poems” and “regional poet.” It would be easy, and it would also be wrong.

I’m reading these poems, and thinking about the blond-brick 1950s ranch home where I grew up in suburban New Orleans, and the house on Fairfield Avenue in Shreveport where my father grew up (on the wrong side of the great dividing line of Kings Highway), and the house on Dauphine Street in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans where my mother was born and lived until she was 27, a divorcee with a six-year-old child living with her mother.

Hamm writes about pelicans and cornfields and rusting plows and old barns and the people who lived and still live around them, yet I keep seeing images of suburbs and cities. He’s able to do that because his poems take you beyond the words and images immediately in front of you to the families and relationships where the words and images were born, where such a thing as memory first occurred. It started as such a little thing, but it ended up shaping your life and explaining why you eat everything on your plate and why a messy kitchen compels you to clean it.

In “The Pilgrim,” a man sees the light from the sunset “pouring into the shattered eyes” of his old farmhouse and considers the grave he dug for a stillborn child. “After the Argument” describes the damage inflicted on a family because of words. “Federico Garcia Lorca Blues” explains how the same color can be found in Andalusia, Chicago, and rural Arkansas. And the title poem is about a family legacy of physical abuse, and how could the grandfather so gentle putting his grandson on a horse have taught his mother to hit?

The collection comprises 20 poems and 14 photographs. And each photograph sits on the page like a poem—a work glove, the outline of a rural church, a train car, a harvested field, an abandoned and decaying farmhouse—and like each poem, tells at least one story.

While I live in suburban Missouri, I’ve spent enough time in both the rural parts of the state and also my own town to recognize the meaning of a storm.

Storm, Rural Missouri

Though the coming rain
announces itself by rustling
the distant corn,
the barns remain immutable
as weathered gray monks.
Without words, they pray
over the dog who sleeps
forever in his soil bed
beside the oranged relic
of a horse-drawn plow.
On rage the blood sugar wars.
The lust for nicotine continues.
The time-crumpled angels
pull on their Carhartt robes
and stand under wide awnings
as lightning unstitches the sky.
Here, every storm is forty nights
From stating the profound.

Justin Hamm

Hamm, a native of central Illinois, has published a photography book, Midwestern, and two previous poetry collections, American Ephemeral and Lessons in Ruin. His poems, stories, and photographs have been included in anthologies and published in a number of literary journals and magazines, including Nimrod, The Midwest Quarterly, Sugar House Review, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, and others. He’s also had several solo photography exhibitions. He now lives near what he calls “Mark Twain country,” which is northeastern Missouri.

The poems and photographs of The Inheritance are about the people, places, and things that shape us. They may now be ghosts, but they are powerful ghosts, with their own set of genes and DNA.

Photo by Y’amal, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Glynn Young.

Browse more book reviews

__________________________

How to Read a Poem by Tania Runyan How to Read a Poem uses images like the mouse, the hive, the switch (from the Billy Collins poem)—to guide readers into new ways of understanding poems. Anthology included.

“I require all our incoming poetry students—in the MFA I direct—to buy and read this book.”

—Jeanetta Calhoun Mish

Buy How to Read a Poem Now!

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Glynn Young
Follow Glynn
Glynn Young
Editor and Twitter-Party-Cool-Poem-Weaver at Tweetspeak Poetry
Glynn Young lives in St. Louis where he retired as the team leader for Online Strategy & Communications for a Fortune 500 company. Glynn writes poetry, short stories and fiction, and he loves to bike. He is the author of Poetry at Work and the Dancing Priest Series. Find Glynn at Faith, Fiction, Friends.
Glynn Young
Follow Glynn
Latest posts by Glynn Young (see all)
  • Poets and Poems: Andrew Frisardi and “The Moon on Elba” - June 6, 2023
  • Poets and Poems: Bruce Beasley and “Prayershreds” - May 30, 2023
  • Poets and Poems: James Sale and “StairWell” - May 23, 2023

Filed Under: article, book reviews, Books, Poems, poetry, poetry reviews, Poets

Write with Us

Comments

  1. Ali Nuri says

    September 3, 2019 at 9:25 am

    Beautiful review

    Reply
  2. L.L. Barkat says

    September 3, 2019 at 2:57 pm

    This caught me by surprise (in a good way):

    “Here, every storm is forty nights
    From stating the profound.”

    I’m guessing if it’s any indication regarding the rest of the poems, then they kind of sneak up on you (again, in a good way). I like a good surprise in a poem, that grows out of the poem, but wasn’t where you might have thought things were going.

    Reply
    • Bethany R. says

      September 4, 2019 at 9:50 am

      Those lines punched out at me too.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cute Comic

😊

The Sadbook Collections

A stick-figure human sure to capture your heart.

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our June Menu.

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

Your Comments

  • Dheepa R. Maturi on Poet Laura on the Moon
  • L.L. Barkat on Poetry Club Tea Date ✨ The Color of Eyes
  • Beverley on Poetry Club Tea Date ✨ The Color of Eyes
  • L.L. Barkat on Poet Laura on the Moon

How to Write Poetry

Get Every Day Poems

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Annual Theme 2022: Perspective
  • • Annual Theme 2021: Generous
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2023 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy

We serve poetry with our cookies. Because that's the way it should be.
We serve poetry with your cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you... accept the cookies with a smile.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
update cookie prefs

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT