kerry
james
e vans
Kerry James Evans
Copyright 2025
"Evans's gritty, hard-hitting debut combines war poems, elegies, and high Southern lyrics to create a new understanding of American identity."
—Publisher's Weekly
"In Bangalore, the poet maps his own experiences and mines them for content. There is never a hint of bitterness or blame in his poems; Bangalore reads as an act of control against a period of time in which he was almost completely controlled by his circumstances, and ultimately, an experience, and attitude, of grace."
—Coldfront
About the Book
"The bangalore torpedo clears a path 10-15 feet wide through barbed wire entanglements. In minefield breaching, it will explode all antipersonnel mines and most of the antitank mines in a narrow foot path."
—United States Army Field Manual, 5-25: Explosives and Demolitions
Praise for Bangalore
“Evans’ jarring debut book of poems draws on his experience as a combat engineer for the Army National Guard…A strong contribution to wartime poetry composed by combatants…Given recent controversy over domestic surveillance and enlisted whistle-blowers, this is a necessary read, indeed.”
—Booklist
Drawing in part upon Evans’s experience in the military, Bangalore speaks from the perspective of an American class warrior who came of age desperately poor. Whether highlighting a barracks argument about LGBTQ service in the military or contemplating pent-up eros in the form of a frozen peach, the poems in Bangalore are as much about the surprises of form and language as they are about discovering great beauty in a world of turmoil.
"Evans spares nothing and no one in his poems, and yet he still finds a way to celebrate what deserves celebrating, and in the end, we’re left with hope."
—The Rumpus
Bangalore is available at local bookstores,
Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, Powell's, and Amazon.
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press (Oct. 1, 2013)
ISBN: 978-1556594052
Paperback: 96 pages
Dimensions: 6x9 inches