Justin Evans

Friday in the Republic of Me

Justin Evans
Justin's previous FootHills books:
Town for the Trees
Working in the Birdhouse
Gathering up the Scattered Leaves

From the book:

There are Times

We all dream of escaping into the distance,
fading quietly into the background where
even our mothers might pass us by
on an un-crowded, almost lonely street
without recognition or even pause.  No, it's true.
It's no use denying it.  We have all
fantasized of becoming anonymous,
slipping into the oblivion of whatever
the opposite of celebrity happens to be.
It's just that some of us are somehow able
to keep hold the precipice, only flirting
with disaster and the madness which waits
for us on the other side. While others,
having seen enough of this so-called
rational world, find some un-named comfort
in being lost and make no pretense of
dancing headlong into the darkening void.


Justin Evans lives with his wife and three sons in rural Nevada, where he teaches.  His most recent book, Town for the Trees was also released from FootHills Publishing in 2011. He edits the on-line journal, Hobble Creek Review.

Friday in the Republic of Me
is a 32 page hand-sewn chapbook  - $10.00.

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 Town for the Trees
Justin Evans


From the book:

In Twilight

I will go, walking down the dark canyon road  
softened beneath a malleable sun. Once more,  
one final descent into the valley of my home.   

Shadow and bare earth begin to evaporate  
into each other, night always a context for union,  
a place to meet and linger in an embrace.   

I see how the river has cut a path for me, given itself
a rhythm for today and tomorrow.  Each slight bend
another life told as the day passes to night.   

Together we both migrate, one man and one river,  
each of us bound to accumulate with our own kind  
where we are certain to find a place to stop and sleep.



Pre-Dawn: Three Sisters

I am awake hours before the sun,
looking at the dark shadow
that is my mountain.  Its hulking curve
lumbers and shifts slightly
with my every breath.

Whenever I come back to this place
after years of absence, it is the mountains
which startle me the most, their size
always shrinking in my mind
like the old memory of a broken arm.

Though the minutes pass slow
it is time well spent, waiting
with the world as it shakes off the night,
small details quietly gathering
beneath the shirt tails of morning.

Justin Evans was raised in Springville, Utah, where most of these poems are set.  After graduating from high school, he served in the U.S. Army from 1988-1992 and graduated from Southern Utah University with a degree in History and English Education.  In 2004 he completed a Master's Degree in Literacy Studies from University of Nevada, Reno.  His previous chapbooks include, Four Way Stop (Main-Traveled Roads, 2005), Gathering up the Scattered Leaves, and Working in the Birdhouse (FootHills, 2006, 2008)For the past twelve years, he has lived with his wife and sons in rural Nevada, where he teaches at the local high school.  In addition to writing, he edits the on-line journal, Hobble Creek Review.

Town for the Trees is a 64 page hand-stitched paper book with spine - $15.00.


TO ORDER  Town for the Trees ON-LINE                                  To order through mail click here.     

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 Working in the Birdhouse

"There is a restless energy behind the poems in Justin Evans' Working in the Birdhouse -- from the unsettled birds that weave and wing their way through the pages to the narrator's treks through the topography of interstates, deserts and even the Garden of Eden. Evans' curiosity about how humans respond and coexist with nature and each other are at the heart of this well-crafted collection."

--Collin Kelley, Author of After the Poison


From the book:


So Often There Are Birds in the Sky

Silhouetted against the mainsail of dusk,
they shroud the remaining daylight.
See how they excommunicate themselves
from the earth, how a lone hawk will float
like a hapless bottle in the ocean,
waiting to deliver its message.

Night after night they remain with me,
great multitudes of dark wings.
I half expect morning to be filled
with birds perched at my window,
accusing me of stealing from them
the mathematics of flight.



Justin Evans lives in rural Nevada with his wife, Becky, and three sons where he teaches history and creative writing.  He is the author of two previous chapbooks:  Four Way Stop (Main-Traveled Roads, 2005); and Gathering up the Scattered Leaves (Foothills Publishing, 2006).   

Working in the Birdhouse
is a 28 page hand-stitched chapbook.
$8.00

TO ORDER  ON-LINE  

From the US or Canada       


From Other Countries           

To order through mail click here.     

*************************************************************************
 Gathering up the Scattered Leaves


From the book:

In Twilight

Yet once more, O ye laurels and once more
                             --- John Milton

I will go, walking down the dark canyon road
softened beneath a malleable sun. Once more,
one final descent into the valley of my home.  
Shadow and bare earth begin to evaporate
into each other, night, always a context for union,
a place to meet and linger in an embrace.  
I see how the river has cut a path for me, given itself
a rhythm for today and tomorrow. Each slight bend
another story told as the day passes to night.  
Together we both migrate, one man and one river,
each of us bound to accumulate with our own kind
where we are certain to find a place to stop and rest.



Artist's Statement:


I have long been interested in place being a defining factor in my poetry.  Many of the poets who have influenced me, use place as a touchstone for the message of their poetry, and I wanted to do the same.  Some have put forth the idea that American poetry is pre-occupied with place, and I certainly see that being true in my case.  I wanted to express in this second chapbook, as I did with my first, a sense of longing for the places of my youth.  Where I was admittedly darker with my first chapbook, my goal was to be more optimistic and hopeful this time around.  Specifically, I wanted to infuse a sense of the ecstatic writings of Rumi with my nostalgia for the places I knew as a young boy.  Hopefully, people can gain a sense of how I feel about specific places and my place in them.

However, poetry has always been more than expression of artistic ideas; it is a means for me to remain connected with the human spirit as a whole.  Poetry is a communion, and as such, allows me to come to the common ground of people with something to share.  And even though I am sharing something of me, I believe I am always taking more away from the experience than I could possibly give.  Therein lies the magic of poetry, the possibility for me to become more than what is possible otherwise.



Gathering up the Scattered Leaves
is a 28 page hand-sewn chapbook  - $8.00

To order through mail click here.     


TO ORDER  ON-LINE