Brian Gavin is a retired distribution manager with a life-long love of poetry, particularly the writings of poets like Robert Frost, William Butler Yeats, and Richard Wilbur. Over the years, he grew in his appreciation of their use of powerful and haunting imagery. Eventually, he began to write his own verse in an experimental, haphazard sort of way. Then, upon his retirement a few years ago, he began to work at it more earnestly and submitted some of his work to online journals. Eventually, a collection began to take shape. Burial Grounds is the result of that effort. It is his first collection.
Burial Grounds is a series of narratives and observations set in a contemporary, rural, Midwestern American landscape. The general theme is rural death and decline. The poems are generally formal but not strictly so. The stories are not true, though some were inspired by situations encountered during years of travel in the American Midwest.
Brian and his wife Karen are the parents of three adult children and their partners and the grandparents of six. They live in their home of 36 years in Lakeport, Michigan, USA.
Paperback: 56 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (May 19, 2023)