When Scott Owens pitched The Nature of Attraction to me, he presented me with a dilemma. The Author’s Select Chapbook Series was designed to have authors for whom Main Street Rag had already published books recommend other authors who would be new to Main Street Rag. The dilemma was that Scott is also a contributor to this collection. On the other hand, there might not be a collection had Pris Campbell not read Scott’s poem “Norman’s Enormous Thing” and been inspired by it enough that she started her own series “Norman” poems. Thus began a collaborative where Pris and Scott would exchange poems and recommendations for poems and from that process, The Nature of Attraction was born. Since I could not let Scott recommend himself…
You hear multiple voices in The Nature of Attraction, but not by contrast, more by the harmonic way these voices mesh together, the way words and ideas fold together to form an image, a phrase, a meaning that transcends an individual thought and becomes something shared. That’s how it is with this collaboration between Pris Campbell and Scott Owens. In these poems, a lifetime passes for Sara and Norman, a lifetime of great joy and great sadness, of longing and resignation that wanting isn’t always enough. Throughout this rollercoaster ride, it’s hard to tell where Scott ends and Pris begins and vice versa because the narrators’ voice remains steady. A challenging feat handled adeptly by two very fine poets; an extremely worthwhile read.
M. Scott Douglass
Publisher/Editor
Main Street Rag