Cover Art Reveal: Green River Valley by Robert Lashley

We can’t keep this incredible cover art under wraps any longer! We’re excited to reveal that the cover for Robert Lashley’s forthcoming poetry collection, Green River Valley, will feature stunning photography by Jody Poorwill! Take a look at Jody’s photograph below, titled “August 19, 2018 • Tacoma, Washington”!

Some of the things we love about Poorwill’s photography is their attention to subtle variations of color, composition, and stark contrasts between manmade objects and nature. This photograph features all three of those components, as well as relays a sense of dissatisfaction with the “progress” of industrialization. That same dissatisfaction is also found in Lashley’s poetry. Still, both Lashley’s and Poorwill’s work also capture the beauty that continues to pervade our landscapes and lives, regardless of “progress,” gentrification, or intrusion.

To showcase the parallels in their work, we decided to let readers peek at one of the poems within Lashley’s Green River Valley, titled “Value Village Love Poem.” Enjoy!

“Value Village Love Poem” by Robert Lashley

Old jackets don’t fit, love, but did they ever?
Insignias and hats fade in the cycles
of discount trend racks.
Jerseys and spanks contract arbitrarily,
and scarfs hollow in the klieg lights
without the heads that gave them meaning.
Age and price may dictate our shape
but wherever you are is the boulevard.

Let me adorn you a crown of price-check rosaries.
Let my love be the alms that never signal
for without you, hoop earrings are metal,
extensions just threads away from their orbit,
away from their center and star.

Let them price to infinity
our posters and memories.
Let them splice the hood
to the meridians of invisibility.
In my arms, you are never gone.

My dear around-the-way girl,
dance with me by sale colors.
Time may erase all style to memory
but the intercom is playing our song.

To pre-order Green River Valley by Robert Lashley, click here.

To learn more about Jody Poorwill and peruse their art, click here.