The poet, Kari Guntrer-Seymour, is a ninth generation Appalachian and a retired journalism professor at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. “In A Place So Deep Inside America It Can't Be Seen, Kari Gunter-Seymour writes with clear, evocative language as she weaves stories of her people, especially the strong women in her life who are portrayed honestly and with compassion. She takes us along on an intergenerational journey through roles as daughter, granddaughter, mother, grandmother, all closely connected to those who came before and those yet to return home. These vivid poems, deeply rooted in place and nature, are filled with images of a life spent in northern Appalachia. Gunter-Seymour writes of planting by the signs and the music of Hank and Dolly, but moves on to contemporary themes like border walls and legacies of war. In these poems, the past meshes with the present, and provides solid footing to face the future.” - Jayne Moore Waldrop. “These poems feel necessary and real and stark as the Appalachian Mountains themselves.” - Rita Sims Quillen.
Russell, Kentucky: Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2020. Trade paperback.