{"id":14236,"date":"2020-02-06T15:52:58","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T20:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/?page_id=14236"},"modified":"2024-12-03T11:16:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T16:16:32","slug":"the-land-of-the-dead-is-open-for-business","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/the-land-of-the-dead-is-open-for-business\/","title":{"rendered":"The Land of the Dead Is Open for Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

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paper \u2022 80 pages \u2022 16.95
\nISBN-13: 978-1-945588-46-4<\/p>\n

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The Land of the Dead Is Open for Business<\/em><\/h2>\n

Jacob Strautmann<\/h2>\n
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The Land of the Dead Is Open for Business<\/em> is an extended elegy for Jacob Strautmann\u2019s home state of West Virginia and its generations of inhabitants sold out by the false promise of the American Dream. Throughout the book, voices rise up from the page to describe a landscape eroded and plundered by runaway capitalism\u2014its mountain tops leveled by the extractive industries, its waters polluted by runoff from mines\u2014and the fallout from that waste. Those who remain are consigned to life in a ravaged land denuded of nature where birds die and \u201cSheep\/birth limp two-headed things and some \/ that speak like men if they speak at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Volunteers<\/strong><\/p>\n

The farmhouse leans in light
\nthe landscape holds exquisitely.
\nIn a crescent men watch the scorchwind,
\neyes as dry as gravel spades.<\/p>\n

Clapboards curl. The frame pops
\nits locks and birds abandon; out
\nthe cellar door mice twist and bolt.
\nA black tree sings from the center<\/p>\n

of total loss. Years, years pass.
\nThe landlords rent a dozer
\ntheir nephew throttles to cover
\nthe ditch: a piano\u2019s charred lip,<\/p>\n

ivory teeth pressed to the clay,
\nmess of wire and flashing,
\nand skulls of marsh ducks coddled
\nin luxuriant fronds, rusted tub.<\/p>\n

He buries the mason jars. A porcelain
\ncracks, spits frogs, collapses.
\nThe dirt tamps, the diesel buckets
\nheave a last good turn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\nAbout the Author<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[column col=”1\/4″] paper \u2022 80 pages \u2022 16.95 ISBN-13: 978-1-945588-46-4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14236"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20444,"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14236\/revisions\/20444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourwaybooks.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}