Alone in the House of My Heart

With poems that are as complicated, breathtaking, and ravaged as Ohio’s southeastern foothills, state poet laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour shares an insider’s appreciation for Appalachia’s hard-worked land and hardworking people, who persevere with honor, humility, and courage through multigenerational struggles.

---

Deeply rooted in respect and compassion for Appalachia and its people, these poems are both paeans to and dirges for past and present family, farmlands, factories, and coal.



Kari Gunter-Seymour’s second full-length collection resounds with candid, lyrical poems about Appalachia’s social and geographical afflictions and affirmations. History, culture, and community shape the physical and personal landscapes of Gunter-Seymour’s native southeastern Ohio soil, scarred by Big Coal and fracking, while food insecurity and Big Pharma leave their marks on the region’s people. A musicality of language swaddles each poem in hope and a determination to endure. Alone in the House of My Heart offers what only art can: a series of thought-provoking images that evoke such a clear sense of place that it’s familiar to anyone, regardless of where they call home.