Ode to Oil: a poetic weaving-together of the history, geology, and culture of fossil fuels in the age of big oil.

Philip Metres’ other books include poetry (To See the Earth), anthologies (Come Together: Imagine Peace) and criticism (Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront since 1941) and five chapbooks, including The Abu Ghraib Arias and Ode to Oil.  His work has appeared in Best American Poetry and has garnered an NEA, a Watson Fellowship, two Ohio Arts Council Grants, and the Cleveland Arts Prize in 2010.  He teaches literature and creative writing at John Carroll University.  I won’t mention the chapbook contest won by Abu Ghraib Arias, because, in Phil’s words, “Awards for poetry are, to quote my friend Gandlevsky, like winning a prize for fishing.”