It’s a surreal feeling to hold one of your own poems in your hand. Not in a journal or a book. But on a glass. A glass that just happens to be filled with one of your favorite West Coast IPAs.
Poetry has always lived in books, in literary journals, in one of the best movies ever made (Dead Poet’s Society), and in my endless collection of spiral-bound notebooks. It does not, as a rule, live on something into which you’d pour that favorite IPA. Until now, that is.
The Jad Josey Collection features four poems from my new book, Cast Your Longest Shadow. I thought it might be challenging to choose which ones would land on glassware, but it was actually an easier process than expected.
“Everything from Now On” was, perhaps, the easiest choice. After all, it includes the line, “One hazy beer / with the sun shining through.” And, yeah, those words look pretty cool when paired with a hazy beverage and some sunshine.
“The Oldest Living Thing in the World” is about time—how it can feel both limitless and stunningly short, how strange it is that we’re all standing in sunlight from the past, how “nothing will change / Everything will be different.” I hope it makes you think. Better yet, I hope it makes you think aloud with a special friend or two.
“Enormous as Want” contains the line that would become my book’s eponymous title: “Cast your longest shadow / and reach your dark hand / toward mine.” Like many of my poems, it’s got lots of stars. Look, I’m in love with the night sky and my favorite constellations. (You should check out the Constellations collection while we’re talking about stars.) This poem is a reminder that we cast our longest shadow when we’re standing in the brightest light.
I think “And Then It Was June” does a lot of heavy lifting for a pint glass. It’s a poem that moves from dreamscape to quiet contemplation. And it has a line that seems fitting for this collection of glasses, one that might come in handy: “Come, sit with me.” Four words that can lead to myriad more, if you let them.
For a couple decades now, it’s been such an honor to have people read my words on the page. So, yeah, it feels a bit surreal to imagine you pouring one of your favorite beverages… into one of my favorite poems. But it’s an honor just the same.
If you’re keen on seeing what poetry can do when it’s off the page, check out the first installation of the Jad Josey collection here.
Want to meet these poems where they started? You can buy my new book of poetry here.
I love knowing these words can sit on your bookshelf and hold your favorite drink. It makes me happy knowing the words can find you either way.
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