The Hour Wasp

THE BOOK:  The Hour Wasp

PUBLISHED IN:  2017

THE AUTHOR:    Jay Sheets

THE ARTIST: Robyn Leigh Lear illustrated and created all of the art for the book. I thought that her vision was perfect for this collection.

THE PUBLISHER:  April Gloaming Publishing, a small press in Nashville, TN

SUMMARY / BACK STORY / TITLE: The title of the book is from a poem I’d written and had published in  Sundog Lit.  The “hour wasp” is an action symbol for this desert-dwelling muse of mine. The poem is a mythical journey into when and how this particular muse awakens, buzzes, and stings.

I began crafting these poems in 2015 while an undergrad in the BFA program at Goddard College in Vermont. The book began as the creative writing portion of my senior study. As the number of poems grew to a full-length manuscript, the symbol of this “hour wasp” continued to hold the collection quite well through each revision, naturally solidifying itself as the title of the book.

During the crafting of these poems, I was studying mystical experience, alchemical symbolism, and hermeticism while investigating how poetics played a role between the three. This research bled into these poems, revealing themes of nature coupled with metaphysical concepts of creation and Being alongside explorations into the enigmatic “she” and “you” relation between speaker and reader. The theme of the book is nature or Spirit-based, while the collection as a whole is an immersion into the mystic-surreal.

WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO READ IT? I think that fans of surrealism, fantasy, or magical realism would appreciate this work. Given that it is heavily inspired by nature and spiritual identity, I feel that those interested in theology and mythology would also appreciate the experience of some of these images. My goal as a poet is to shift a reader’s consciousness into a space of theopoetic experience, of wonder and awe. If only one reader experiences this from only one of my poems, then the book has done its job.

REVIEW COMMENTS: “The Hour Wasp  is a literary collection of poems not meant for the uneducated, the non-dreamers, or the faint of heart. It is raw, it is dark, it is honest. This collection is made of otherworldly imagery that will transport you to another time and place, one you only wish you could reside in forever. And when you come back to your suddenly sullen reality after the last page, you’ll be tempted to leap back into that dream state of chaos created by the elegantly occult poems.”  — Korynne, Goodreads

“If poetry is religion, The Hour Wasp is a sanctuary; a temple in which Sheets guides us to the altar. He gives us room enough to worship, seek absolution, or call forth ecstatic visions. Throughout he tries on the cloak of monk, prophet, and shaman before settling effortlessly into the mantle of modern mystic. All of this feels as deliberate as the intricacies of each work.

There is nothing nominal within the pages of this vital collection. Even the ephemeral – ‘to explore beauty’ – is gravid. Sheets has generously given himself over to his craft and the result is indoctrination into the non-denominational theology of words.

Jay Sheets’ debut collection is revelatory. In its pages we witness the stellar evolution of the literary artist. He establishes himself as a formidable poetic force. And though his words are enough to conjure vivid images of the impossible, the earthly, and the holy, illustrations by Robyn Leigh Lear add another striking dimension to this already complex and significant work. I’m keeping this one on my bedside table. You should too.”  — Claudine Cain, Editor,  Black Elephant Lit

“In all, it reminds me of the way knowledge was passed down through the oppressive hands of the church in the middle ages. It’s heavily coded, and it’s up to the reader to decide if the act of deciphering and entering into the secret chambers is worth the extra time. For me, it was.”  — Elizabeth, Goodreads

AUTHOR PROFILE: Jay Sheets is a poet, writer, and researcher. He received a BFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and is currently a graduate student at Harvard, where he studies the poetics of religious experience and spiritual identity.

AUTHOR COMMENTS: Poetry has the power to activate, interpret, and prognosticate religious experience, thus helping to shape one’s spiritual (or religious) identity. If one views poetry as a gateway to the divine, then what does it mean to write to a flower in the window that isn’t there? I believe deeply that every problem humankind is facing stems from a modern, collective disconnect from Spirit and Self, and I believe that language—inner and outer—when chosen carefully, can help us to bridge this disconnect and aid us in remembering who we are and why we’re here.

I write poems to remember why I’m here. They are conversations between nature and I. They are byproducts of curiosity. I am lucky when they are published, when a publisher believes enough in them to put them out into the world. Knowing that a poem or two has connected with a reader is the ultimate gift; it lets me know that the poem has done its job.

SAMPLE  (Two Poems) :

WHERE TO BUY IT  April Gloaming Publishing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.

PRICE:   Currently on sale through Amazon for $5.80

CONTACT THE AUTHOR:  jsheets@hds.harvard.edu