How God Ends Us

South Carolina Poetry Book Prize

by DeLana R.A. Dameron, Elizabeth Alexander (Foreword)

DeLana R. A. Dameron searches for answers to spiritual quandaries in her first collection of poems, How God Ends Us, selected by Elizabeth Alexander as the fourth annual winner of the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize. Dameron's poetry forms a lyrical conversation with an ominous and omnipotent deity, one who controls all matters of the living earth, including death and destruction. The poet's acknowledgement of the breadth of this power under divine jurisdiction moves her by turns to anger, grief, celebration, and even joy. From personal to collective to imagined histories, Dameron's poems explore essential, perennial questions emblemized by natural disasters, family struggles, racism, and the experiences of travel abroad. Though she reaches for conclusions that cannot be unveiled, her investigations exhibit the creative act of poetry as a source of consolation and resolution.

Genres: Poetry

83 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

DéLana R. A. Dameron is an artist whose primary medium is storytelling. She is a graduate of New York University’s MFA program in poetry and holds a bachelor of arts
degree in history from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Her debut poetry collection, How God Ends Us, was selected by Elizabeth Alexander for the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize, and her second collection, Weary Kingdom, was chosen by Nikky Finney for the Palmetto Poetry Series. Dameron is also the founder of Saloma Acres, an equestrian and cultural space in her hometown of South
Carolina, where she resides.

Reviews

[Fred Dameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work is wonderful. I feel my distant relatives pain, hope, love, and laughter over the miles. Thank you for helping me feel

[Darlene Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This remains one of my favorite poetry collections; I have reread it multiple times coming back to it when nothing else is satisfying me.