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Author<\/h2>\nKent C. Schroer<\/p>\n
Kent C. Schroer, born April 5th, 1991, professional poet and editor, has held the privilege and distinction of authorship since age sixteen, the work in question titled \u201cHopeless\u201d from Alabaster & Mercury: Vol. I. During his three consecutive years as an editor for the undergraduate UC Riverside campus-wide publication, \u201cMosaic\u201d, Kent had work published in volumes fifty through fifty-two. In 2015, twenty additional poems were published in Alabaster & Mercury Vol III: Following Eternity Into Cold Fire. Pillars of Sand is Kent’s first standalone collection; The distilled adoration and maturity from over ten years of writing have culminated full-force in this effort. With no shortage of sentiment, and a flair for cadence, Kent C. Schroer’s new chapbook not only proves its immensity from the first few pages, but will soon prove to be the foundation from which this author launches his career.<\/p>\n
Pillars of Sand, Kent C. Schroer’s first full-length Poetry chapbook, weaves a rich landscape of tragically human tales; The awkwardness of growing up, family ties, loss and isolation, and the harsh duality of our relationship with nature, are all explored here in gorgeous depth. There is excellent cadence, a soft musicality that imbues each poem with an uplifted hope; juxtaposed with their sharp honesty and solemn revelations, creates an experience that leaves the reader weathered and worn, and equally strengthened from it. Conclusively, the book speaks volumes on impermanence, the consequences we face when confronted with our own minute existence, and the whirring forces of fate that create such dreadful situations way beyond our control. Drawing influence from old and new, including such poets as Dylan Thomas, Jane Hirshfield and Philip Larkin, Pillars of Sand stands out as a brief but stunning snapshot of humanity; Our fortune and our flaws, and the pervading grayness in between that doles out the commerce of our daily lives. This is a collection meant for everyone: it confesses the immense depths of our pain, but also exalts the warm, endearing connection between us as a people, both intimately and on a global scale. Pillars of Sand is a lifetime in the making, a decidedly imperfect storm of memories, regrets and reconciliation, and it deserves an audience reflective of its imagination and immensity.<\/p>\n
Fire Season
\nLast we saw home
\nwas before the compulsory phone call
\nto evacuate. Our family,
\nafter locking all the windows and doors
\nfrom the grimy, roiling veins of voracious soot,
\nthat, when inhaled
\nwe hacked up like shards of hot glass-
\nafter gathering, without pause
\nour microcosm of simple comforts
\nand sterling memories,
\nwe crammed the car
\nand watched, as our toothpick stretch of town
\ndrowned savagely in flame;
\nPossessed by a strange deepsea gravity
\nso heavy that, had we paddled above
\nthe sparse porthole glow from occupied rooms
\nand the molten, scabby stratos,
\nthere would be the real thing-
\ndeep stainless blue
\nwith wisps of cirrus clouds too faint to cast shadows.
\nWeeks passed.
\nNews reports claimed
\nthe untamed Hell on our hilltop
\nhad finally been quelled,
\ndespite the audible hum that silence feigned
\nin place of a neighborhood-
\nraccoons and birds and fenced-off dogs
\nall gone- the gutted streets
\ndoubly baptized
\nby raining cinders and a sanguine sun.
\nOur first time returning, we stepped inside to find
\nthe pungent rot of thawed beef,
\nits fatty blood spattered all over the refrigerator walls,
\nthe seaport stench of old tilapia,
\nand a spine-biting chill
\nthat gave evidence
\nto how things are often left
\nin a flash heat of reckless flight.
\nIn spite of asylum,
\nfortune reminded us
\nelsewhere
\nthere lurched the skeletal remains-
\nthe lone chimneys that rose like charred brick monoliths,
\nthe liquified concrete and steel
\nthat could no longer be called home.<\/p>\n