Decades of Rehearsal

by Wayne Allen Jones

In this new work, Jones speak with a new voice - bolder, more forceful, more energetic, more passionate. He takes many risks in stride - in subject, point of view, tone, and length - the history of a steel mill and its workers, the ritual of fathers giving guns to sons, a dramatic monologue from a piece of the cross borne by Jesus, a nine-part study on types of rope, and an even longer poem about a misguided walkabout in the Arizona desert. Shorter poems put breathing room between the longer ones, and many speak to the theme of Jones's first book, Stone Works - the way people make sense of the world by imposing their own meanings on what they perceive, what happens, and how they respond.

80 pages, Paperback

First published May 19, 2004