JESUS

TRAILER

IN THE

Southern Gothic Poetry

Above all else, the poetry in Jesus in the Trailer evokes a cogent sense of place. Whether addressing police violence on the cobblestone streets of Savannah, the loss of a loved one to dementia, or coming of age in a trailer park in Appalachia, these poems address matters of faith, death, love, lust, and beauty while not masking the pain of Southern history.

Publisher: Main Street Rag Press

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There was a time when the smell

Of new cut grass brought joy

When in the spring you forked the hay

And stacked it neatly in the corner of the

Barn where your first dog was eaten by flies

Back before you knew the soil

Demanded so much.

REVIVAL

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Careless: Poem from Jesus in the Trailer

It's careless:

your back arching across time

the way you drift across miles

to stand in front of me.

We circle

in the snow

humming hymns, cheeks close.

CARELESS

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Author Reviews for JIT

Author Reviews

Author of Rednecks

Taylor Brown

Andrew K. Clark's Jesus in the Trailer is a work of brutal splendor, in which single pages carry the weight of whole novels and redemption flickers in the blood and hay of childhood memories. Clark sounds the gothic rhythms of old-time religion and devil's blues, alternately exhorting and confessing, calling us to burn bright and sleep deep -- to hold close the ones we hold dear.

Author of

Theologies of Terrain

Founding member of the

Pat Conroy Literary Center

TIM CONROY

Clark’s honed poems bite and leave us questioning our natures, we can’t hide in religious fervency or thru unzipped exploits. His poem Rebel Mama sears our conundrum, “and I know you, can’t get away from you.”

New York Times

Contributor

Ariel Felton

Jesus in the Trailer is an intimate and sobering look at the South, at faith, at youth and aging. Clark’s poems are as tangible as red clay, with an appreciation for the rustic and a reverence for time. From start to finish, this is a truly captivating collection. You'll return to it again and again.

Author of

Today, Fish Only

and
Waiting for Sunset to

Bury Red Camellias

Miho Kinnas

This book of poems is an invitation to fall in love with the poet’s presence in his time and place; whether you are, or are not from the South, wishful or heart-broken.

Author of Terrestrials

and Some Wonder

ERIC NELSON

These poems pulse with conflict — desire and regret, tenderness and violence, hypocrisy and spirituality. “Red Lights” jolts us straightaway: “Sinister red Christmas lights/in the window…” Clark explores childhood trauma and sexual awakening, adult relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, and, ultimately, the sustaining grace of the natural world and love, as in “Frost Moon”: “where in the summer we lay/letting the green moss/grow over our bodies…” Deftly crafted and compellingly honest, Clark’s debut collection is impressive.

Former Poet Laureate

of Charleston, SC

MARCUS AMAKER

This is a work about moths, Savannah, teeth, Prince, lipstick, churches, tombstones, and everything in between. This is a poetry book that will take you places you don’t expect, with precise language. This is an author at the top of his talent, in beautiful form. This is a book for you.

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