Scott Woods' major collection of poetry and first book with Brick Cave Books. Tackling subjects from race to pop culture, religion, love and beyond, Scott's raw and tenured language immediately connects with the Reader's sense of the world and Readers find themselves gently nodding in understanding and awe as you explore this book.
From We Over Here Now
MISTAKEN
What I say about you
I say about myself, but don’t believe.
I say you are morning.
Only night rests in my jowls.
I say you are where poetry needs to go, even though I know it’s already there.
I could taste the ruins in your mouth,
where the men who planted flags on your breasts
discovered the person already living there
and declared her “found.”
The brick clay mission they made you build
in your belly is patched and crumbling,
yet your eyes still worship there,
still break wafers over their plates,
staring back into the distant past.
Feed me the cracker of your body and wonder why I still hunger.
This is why your kisses tasted like
the book I didn’t realize I’d read until it was over,
the song I have remembered all wrong,
danced to all wrong,
filled the bar we talked in with too much smoke and light.
So I say you are a construct.
I say you are not the chicken wings and
the sausage and peppers or the pillow of your hair.
You are not the knot in the kerchief of Baldwin’s throat, or the gravel
piling up in your scars.
I have written so many odes to your scars you have been rubbed smooth with tongue.
These things look back in a mirror at me
every morning you are not here.
The morning you never stayed to savor,
the here that you were never in,
the you that you never were.
Accolades for We Over Here Now
"Scott Wood's work is amazing. The poetry you find in these pages is funny, moving, heart-wrenching, and ponderous. He is accessible. His poetry has broad appeal."- Alexis Rueal- Amazon
"Scott Woods has been a beloved & respected figure in the American Poetry Slam scene for over a decade; his debut collection of poetry, "We Over Here Now" shows precisely why." C.O. Aptowicz- Amazon
"The mark of a talented poet, to me, is someone who can easily tap into cultural, topical, and emotional issues using a voice that resonates with a larger audience. In "We Over Here Now," Scott Woods does just that."- Stephanee K.- Amazon
About Scott Woods
Woods is a writer and event organizer in Columbus, Ohio. He is the founder of Streetlight Guild, a performing arts non-profit. He was an emmy aware recipient in 2020. He is a 2018 Columbus Foundation 2018 Spirit of Columbus Award recipient, as well as the Greater Columbus Arts Council winner of the 2017 Columbus Makes Art Excellence Award for his event series “Holler: 31 Days of Columbus Black Art", and was named the first-ever "Face of Columbus" by Columbus Alive.
Scott Woods has published work in a variety of publications, presented his work to audiences across the country, and has been featured multiple times in national press, including World Literature Today, Rattle, Paste, and on national Public Radio. He was inducted into the Thompson-Gale Contemporary Black Biography encyclopedia and writes a monthly poetry column entitled "Poetry Is Doomed" for GotPoetry.com. He served as the president of Poetry Slam, Inc. for seven years and continues to slam competitively. In 2006, Scott Woods became the first poetry ever complete a 24 hour solo poetry reading, a feat repeated for seven years without ever repeating a poem from any of the seven years.
