Accents Publishing > Books > Eric Scott Sutherland's Awkward Scrapes

Eric Scott Sutherland

Awkward Scrapes is a collection of poems that celebrates love, family, fatherhood, and the natural world while confronting grief, violence, memory, and healing. Rooted in Appalachia and Kentucky landscapes, Eric Scott Sutherland's lyrical, music-infused poems seek beauty, tenderness, and hope amid the awkward scrapes of being human.

What Others Say About Awkward Scrapes

Awkward Scrapes is its own equinox. Distributing love evenly. Ascribing "sacred" status to domesticity, centering fatherhood, and appreciating the beauty in everything that lives between the coral and the trees … what higher, more honest work could a poet ever do?

—Frank X Walker, Poet Laureate of Kentucky 2013–15

"The cycle of pain is forever—" but there are places "where tender things are named," and in that naming—even in our current "unholy country"— Eric Scott Sutherland finds a commitment to annotating and preserving family, place, and the rhythms of the natural world. "I am fierce / in my defense / of home" the poet declares, and his defense is making for us the most memorable "lyrical tapestries." Awkward Scrapes is an arresting poetry driven by the poet's signature short-lines, favorite music, sonic play, spoken-word energy, and a dogged search for inspiration and joy.

—Marianne Worthington, author of The Girl Singer

The poems in Awkward Scrapes are the best kinds of love songs, never sentimental and always powerful. They are meditations on romantic love, on the profound connections we have with our children and the natural world, even on life itself. This book is a celebration of all that makes us human: the awfulness and the beauty, sometimes tangled. Sutherland is one of my favorite poets and I loved every carefully chosen yet organic word.

—Silas House, Poet Laureate of Kentucky 2023–25

Domestic

Turn another
pair of Star Wars socks
inside out. Fold dish towels
and cloth napkins into neat
squares and rectangles.
Wait until dinner is finished
and scrub the dishes clean.

Vacuum the crumbs again
and refill yet another
glass of water.
Repeat yourself
over and over and over.

Take trash out to the curb
and make sure teeth
get flossed and brushed.
Breathe.

Read a stack of well-worn story books
to a curious and wonderful boy.
Have a seat at bedside and snuggle
while his bed tongue struggles to settle
until he finally crashes and lights go out.

And if fortune spotlights your heart,
squeeze out the gold
of the day's last radiant rays

with your wife, life's partner,
who loves you tough and tender
and savor those expiring moments
passing before your eyes.

The setting sun sighs
like a crimson slow-burning ember,
losing its light too soon.

Details and Ordering

Publication Date: July 1, 2026
Format: Softcover, 6" x 9"
ISBN: 978-1-961127-28-9
Price: $19.00

About the Author

Poet Laureate of Al's Bar and creator of the legendary Holler Poets Series, Eric Scott Sutherland is the author of six collections of poetry including Earth Is My Church and Pendulum. His poems have been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Earth Is My Church was nominated for the 2020 Weatherford Award for Appalachian book of the year. He lives and works to protect trees as Urban Forester in Lexington, Kentucky.