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Tayari's Blog: Miscreants by James Hoch

Posted by TayariJones on July 3, 2007 09:29 PM
Filed under Bookshelf

If you are in Santa Cruz on July 10 at 7:30, you are in luck because James Hoch will be reading from his new book of poetry, Miscreants. I had the good fortune to read with James at the Rutgers-Camden Writers Conference a couple of weeks ago.

A little about James, which I swiped from his homepage:

Prior to teaching, James Hoch was a dishwasher, cook, dockworker, social worker and shepherd.

Miscreants takes a look at Camden, James Hoch's hometown, and in particular the murder of a young boy that shocked the blue-collar suburb of Philadelphia. That poem had particular resonance with me as my first novel, Leaving Atlanta, is about the murder of children and the way that it devastates an entire generation.

At the reading at Camden, I was just James's opening act. It was my job to warm up the crowd for what they had been waiting for, the local boy made good. His mother was there as well as his sister (who bought the bar that she used to drink in.) Other folks were in the audience clutching the notice of the reading that was printed in the local paper.

A couple of years ago, a student told me that his work took place in "Anytown, USA", that he didn't think that it mattered where his story was set. I disagreed with him and only wished that he could have been there to hear James Hoch read. When you hear a poet at the height of his skills read about a town that matters to him, it becomes clear that place done right is the red beating heart of every story that matters.

More goofy photos here.

James Hoch's poem, The Car, is over at Verse Daily.