O Death

Erasure poetry only works when you choose the right text to draw from. Though Justin Hamm’s O Death takes its roots from the work of several different authors, it all comes together as one voice, Hamm’s. What remains is heart, is struggle, is joy, is lament and a true sense of the modern cultural landscape. While the original authors may well have planted the seeds, Hamm has tended the garden and these poems, now solely his, have become a rare thing of beauty.”
~ John Dorsey, Pocatello Wildflower

Through masterful erasure, Justin Hamm whittles works by literary and Delta Blues luminaries into spare bones scaffolds upon which he hangs portraits of his inner world alongside tableaus of his beloved Midwest. Hear the slide guitar accompanying Hamm's plea in "Prayer to the Absent Father." In "Communion," feel the laughter passed around like bottles of beer to counter despair. Hamm’s poems sing the possibilities of songs we need right now.
~ Amy Baskin, Night Hag and SKULL

With undeniable intelligence, wit, and plenty of dark humor, Justin Hamm wrestles with mortality, eschewing easy answers. This collection is a brief testament to one man’s pursuit of self-knowledge through “the cobwebby dark underneath” where the wish for returning with “fists full of everything that was taken,” is acknowledged to be futile, but nevertheless, worth the fight.
~ Frank Paino, Pieta and Obscura