Parkersburg native releases new collection of poetry

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PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg native David B. Prather announced the publication of his collection of poetry, “Bending Light with Bare Hands: a Journal of Poems,” from Fernwood Press.
“This collection quickly and unrelentingly distinguishes itself, elevating the quotidian into meditations on love, mortality, and mental health. Prather is a poet who has hit his stride,” said Frank Paino, author of “Obscura” and “Dark Octaves.”
The collection is a direct response to the COVID lockdown and all the insecurities and frustrations that accompanied compulsory isolation. The poems in this collection each begin with a singular event or nagging thought that gets woven into larger associative tapestries, a journal of verse addressing existence through personal experience.
Prather dedicates “Bending Light with Bare Hands” to his parents, and thanks the many poets who helped him workshop much of the work: Wilma Acree, Kari Gunter-Seymour (Ohio State Poet Laureate), Hayley Haugen, Sean Kelbley, Stephanie Kendrick, and Sherrell Wigal.
Prather said the themes of apocalypse, of the battles of darkness and light, and of struggles with traditional/familial beliefs emerged from suburban landscapes and childhood memories of a rural upbringing.
“[T]his essential journal of poems is an intimate account of restless days spent attempting hope on the south side of Parkersburg, West Virginia,” noted Randi Ward, author of “Whipstitches.”
Denton Loving, author of “Tamp,” adds, “David B. Prather’s…collection…illuminates in a world of shadows.”
Prather will be reading from his collection at the Parkersburg & Wood County Public Library on April 12 to celebrate National Poetry Month as part of a reading/writing workshop event with Wilma Acree and Sherrell Wigal.
Copies of “Bending Light with Bare Hands” and his other collections, “We Were Birds,” and “Shouting at an Empty House,” will be available at that event, and are currently available from the publishers online and Amazon.