The Glass Hammer, the fourth book of poems by the celebrated author of After the Lost War, is a southern narrative poem. It tells the story of a boy brought up in a military family in Texas and Alabama, a work of coming of age poetry that is as rich in emotion and experience as any novel, as family life itself. In a sequence of sixty-five short lyrics, the narrator moves from the anecdotal circumstances of his infancy to the rebellions of his youth and adolescence, from the tragedy of his mother's death to the acceptance of his father's disciplinary love. This powerful memoir in verse is human, solid, passionate, rueful, and eminently readable. It is as transparent as a mountain brook and moves as fast. It is as painful and powerful and surprising as first love and first loss.
This journey through a Southern childhood is a story of:
- A Southern Narrative Poem: Sixty-five short lyrics that trace a boy's path from infancy through the rebellions of adolescence in Texas and Alabama.
- Complex Father Son Relationship: An unflinching look at a boy's struggle to find acceptance in his father's disciplinary love in the wake of immense family tragedy.
- Military Family Life: A vivid portrait of a childhood shaped by the unique pressures of growing up in a military family in the American South.
- Grief and Loss: A raw and powerful exploration of a young man's world after the devastating loss of his mother, as painful and surprising as first love.