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On Percival Everett’s The Trees (a 199-word review)
Clearly, Percival Everett’s longtime publisher, Graywolf Press, couldn’t quite figure out how to characterize his new novel, The Trees. On the back cover: “A blistering tale of revenge in the Deep South.” “Blistering,” a hype word from 1950s B-movie trailers. “Revenge,” yes! But: “In the Deep South”—well, the novel only begins there with gruesome murders and mutilations of white racists in Money, Mississippi, where Emmett Till was murdered in 1955. Yes, it’s all connected. But Money can’t contain the spirit of retribution fueled by American history. The real history, not the one we learned in school.Read More
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Nevertheless
A couple of days back I rescued 20 minutes from a morning otherwise frittered away on routine errands. This rescue was effected in my favorite Denver used book store, where I picked up a copy of Harold Norse‘s Memoirs of a Bastard Angel. I would have snapped up the book in any case, but had there been any doubt the preface, by James Baldwin, would have clinched the deal. Baldwin notes: All that I am equipped to recognize in the effort of any poet is whether or not the effort is genuine.Read More
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
