Shann spent part of his childhood on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Southeast Montana, which is reflected in his writing ― including in his novel American Copper, which deals with issues of the horrific colonization of the Cheyenne people.
His new poetry book Atomic Theory 7: poems to my wife and God (2020, Wipf & Stock) also features the work of visual artist Trinh Mai.
The following poem previously appeared in Diode, and is from Atomic Theory 7.
from sundown
two things dostoyevski said:
beauty will save the world
and nothing is more beautiful than Christ
tell us of your stark trees Christ
standing cold with their limbs to the sky
place our hands into the coarse black coat of winter wolves
we cannot un-name you God
what does Christ even mean
she and i cannot un-remember you
tell me of your sky a red field behind the trees
and how you drink water through rock
Lord of wonder Lord of night
where dark smudges the world rim
blast us with wind and light
Posted with permission of the poet.
Entry written by D.S. Martin. His latest poetry collection is Ampersand (2018, Cascade). His books are available through Amazon, and Wipf & Stock, including the anthologies The Turning Aside, and Adam, Eve, & the Riders of the Apocalypse.
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