Description:
A contemplation centered on toxic relationships, homelessness, and higher education.
Brief description: Jason Adam Sheets comesfrom a lineage of Appalachianmusicians, songwriters, poets, and preachers. He earned aMaster's of Th eological Studiesin Th eopoetics from HarvardDivinity School, where herecently served as a TeachingFellow. His research focuseson how poetic language worksto evoke religious experience.Sheets' commitment to the fi eldcan be seen in his work as a poet and essayist. Books include V Verse Is I(AGP, 2025), A Madness of Blue Obsidian (AGP, 2022), Th e Hour Wasp(AGP, 2017), and Th eopoetica: An Anthology (AGP, 2022). New poemsappear in POETRY (March, 2024) and Modern Language Studies(Winter, 2025). A Pushcart Prize nominee, his writing was recentlyfeatured in Harvard Magazine and by Oxford University's ResearchCentre in the Humanities. He teaches for Poetry in America, inaffi liation with the eponymous PBS television series and in conjunctionwith the National Education Equity Lab, and has worked as a writingand publishing mentor for AWP's Writer to Writer mentorshipprogram. His work has been supported by Harvard University, PENAmerica, Poets & Writers Magazine, and Mass Cultural Council.177
Review Quotes:
"Alchemical and transformative, rooted deep in mystical traditions, these
poems see and ask to be seen...Read [these poems] again and again."
- Janet Sylvester, author of And Not to Break
"If poetry is religion, [Sheets' poetry] is a sanctuary; a temple in which Sheets
guides us to the altar. He gives us room enough to worship, seek absolution, or
call forth ecstatic visions. Throughout he tries on the cloak of monk, prophet,
and shaman, before settling effortlessly into the mantle of modern mystic. All
of this feels as deliberate as the intricacies of each work...[it] casts us in shadow,
gibbous ray, then maximum incandescence."
- Claudine Cain, Black Elephant Lit
"Like reading through a dream."
- Ryann Crofoot
"I felt alive with every word, every sentence that I read. Mesmerising, lyrical
poetry bursting with emotions intertwined in creativity, at the seams. Raw,
original, sophisticated, and yet the poetry rings with such candour. The writing
style seems like that of the Romantic poets and offers a magical escape, a surreal
transportation to our imaginations."
- Shelley D.
"Ethereal, has a life-altering impact."
- Korynne Michele
"[Sheets' poetry] reads like the description of a dream in free verse. It's almost
as if someone tried to make poetry out of a surrealist painting."
- Andreea Martin, Infinite Text Journal