The River on our Hands

AJ Wright's The River on our Hands is as much a historical account as it is a poetry collection. The book explores growing up in a small West Virginia town on the banks of the Ohio River: our poet faces encroaching floodwater on a trip to the store, constructs a makeshift airplane from leftover wood and rusted metal, and watches the river through the windows of old cars. The backdrop is the aftermath of tragedy, calcifying into the town's story: the collapse of the Pleasants Power Station c...