The Idea of God in Tennessee

By John Alexsander McDermott

John A. McDermott's The Idea of God in Tennessee is a diorama of the American past chock-full of grace and kindness. "We're old, we're old, but we're not past caring," McDermott writes, speaking for all of us but, most of all, for the poet himself. Over and again McDermott turns his attention to the ordinary only to discover there the sublime. "[T]hat afternoon nothing is average, not one thing." The same can be said for this marvelous first collection. -Jen McClanaghan, author of River Legs In John A. McDermott's moving first collection The Idea of God in Tennessee we are drawn into a musical kaleidoscope of guitar twangs and syncopated jazz riffs as the speaker navigates the swampy landscape of fatherhood as a Midwestern transplant in the American south using his sturdy compass of rock and roll. The cardinals and ordinates are all there-Chuck Berry, Sun Studios in Memphis, Flannery O'Connor, Chet Baker, Led Zeppelin, Delmore Schwartz, Buddy Holly, Elvis-and we are lucky to have McDermott as our guide. This is a beautiful book. -Glenn Shaheen, author of Predatory and Unchecked Savagery

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0692474900
• ISBN13: 9780692474907
• Release Date: July 2015
• Publisher: Aldrich Press
• Length: 86 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.2" x 6.0"