Road Scatter: Poems

by Sandra Meek

Kinetic poems of dying and living from the author of Biogeography . Road Scatter (as in tire-sprayed gravel) is an examination of breakage and survival, compelled by the decline and death of the poet’s mother but engaged, too, by global encounters with the Iraq war, a rabid dog in Africa, and an at-large South American former dictator, for example. Though a book of mourning, it is also one of living, “rising from grief, returning light in all directions.” --Jane Hirshfield

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2012

About the author

Sandra Meek was born in Texas, grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, and has lived in Rome, Georgia, since 1996. Her most recent book of poems, Still (Persea Books, 2020), was named a “New & Noteworthy Poetry Book” by The New York Times Book Review. Of Still, The New York Times writes: “Meek’s prescient poetry has long dwelled darkly on humanity’s environmental impact; in this book, the tone has grown urgent, even apocalyptic.” Her seventh collection, Bind, is forthcoming from Persea Books in January 2027. Other titles include An Ecology of Elsewhere (Persea, 2016), Road Scatter (Persea, 2012), and Biogeography, winner of the Dorset Prize (Tupelo 2008), as well as an edited anthology, Deep Travel: Contemporary American Poets Abroad, awarded an Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal. Recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Poetry, the Poetry Society of America’s Lucille Medwick Memorial Award, three Georgia Author of the Year awards, and two Peace Corps Writers awards (Meek served in Manyana, Botswana, 1989-1991), she is Poetry Editor of the Phi Kappa Phi Forum and Dana Professor of English, Rhetoric, and Writing at Berry College.

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had not been going through grief over loss of my brother this passed summer, I might not have quite understood this book. But since I was facing deeply dark days of mourning I could totally relate. I recommend this book of poems to anyone who is facing loss. Or buy it and keep it on your shelf for when that awful time comes, then pick it up and it will guide you through the dark.

[Rena · Rating 3 out of 5]

These poems are so deep and personal to the poet. I almost cannot cope with them because I feel like maybe I shouldn't be reading... or something. It almost seems like a diary of sorts.

Most of the poems are about Sandra Meek's mother when she was battling cancer and eventually dies. Again I say, super personal. As sad as the subject matter is, Meek approaches it with a more sarcastic tone. Some moments are actually quite humorous. I think she wrote it this way for a purpose. I think she wrote this as a way to remember and cherish her mother as she was. It is not to remember the hard times, but to learn to live in the light moments. I find this very meaningful. I really hope this poet continues to write from her experiences and that her work does well.