Photo by James Ferraro  

RODNEY
TERICH
LEONARD

Poet & Curator

poet curator

Another Land of My Body

Sweetgum & Lightning

“Sweetgum & Lightning lets us into an extraordinary poetic universe, shaped by a vernacular rooted in the language of self, one’s origins, and music. In poems that are deeply sensual in nature, Rodney Terich Leonard considers gender and sexuality, art, poverty, and community. Imagery expands through unexpected lexical associations and rumination on the function of language; words take on new meaning and specificity, and the music of language becomes tantamount to the denotations of words themselves. Through extensive webs of connotation, Leonard’s narratives achieve a sense of accuracy and intimacy. The nuanced lens of these poems is indicative of the honesty of expression at work in the collection-one that affirms the essentiality of perception to living and memory.”

– from the publisher

"When the news of the day is too much to bear and we can’t find the words, be grateful for this poet . . ."

A. Van Jordan

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Readings, discussions, parties

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Detail from photo by Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times.

ephemera

Gallery of curated delights

Praise for Sweetgum & Lightning

As you listen, what you’ll hear is what happens when the spirit is captured on the page.

A. Van Jordan

. . . a cascade of image and song, charged by a voice that can pivot from reverence to gleeful vulgarity inside a single line.

Mark Bibbins

....an extraordinary poetic universe, shaped by a vernacular rooted in the language of self, one's origins, and music.

Four Way Books

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