Hickory – Redhawk Publications is happy to announce the publication of Prepositional, Scott Owens’ 18th poetry collection. Some of his other collections are “Worlds Enough” and “Sky Full of Stars and Dreaming,” both published by Redhawk Publications. Owens published his first poem about 45 years ago and his first poetry collection more than 30 years ago. Owens has been teaching for over 35 years; he is currently a Poetry Professor at Lenoir-Rhyne University and has taught poetry workshops in schools, libraries, and communities across the southeast. For the past decade, he has owned and operated Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and Café in downtown Hickory with his wife, Julie.
Owens commented, “Prepositional came to be because one of my customers, after reading “Sky Full of Stars and Dreaming,” asked if I had another book that was positive and upbeat like that. While most of my prior books had some pretty heavy content, each also contained a certain number of poems about “redemption,” and when I looked at those, I realized that most of them found redemption through relationships. Aiming to fulfill my reader’s wish, I set out to explore that idea more fully and write new poems about the redemption inherent in relationships to go along with those that had already created a thread throughout my previous work. Writing with such a positive idea in mind and writing for someone whose opinion I valued made the whole process enjoyable, and having the opportunity to play around with my favorite part of speech (prepositions) made it fun.”
2015-2018 poet laureate Shelby Stephenson comments, “In Prepositional, Scott Owens trues the lapping sand from Where I Come From all the way to the Dollar General, where he offers the truth that words work the way they do for the enrichment of us all. We must keep on keeping on seems to be the root message and enjoying it as we do. His philosophical lyrics prove that ‘Where there is language, there is art.’”
A book launch, reading, and signing for “Prepositional” will be held at Taste Full Beans in downtown Hickory as part of the monthly series, Poetry Hickory, on December 13 at 6:30 PM. A podcast featuring an interview with Owens can be found on RedPubPod, the official podcast of Redhawk Publications available on all podcast streaming platforms.
To purchase “Prepositional,” visit https://tinyurl.com/ScottOwensPrepositional
Scott Owens
