MERCIFUL DAYS is the fourth collection of poems by East Tennessee poet Jesse Graves, recipient of the James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachia from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. In a language that is both plainspoken and lyrical, Graves examines the connections that hold people together across generations and against the breaches of time and distance. The landscapes of his native region possess a mythic beauty and Graves writes of the animating force it can become in a poet's imagination. He closely observes animals and plants, the circling of hawks, and the curling of wild ginger leaves, as well as less palpable phenomena such as how wind stirs the surface of still water. MERCIFUL DAYS is a book of elegies and celebrations. Graves's poems are haunted by the lost futures of lives cut short, and by speculative narrations of omens and portents, witches and spirits seen only in reflection. For all the darkness visible in the world, Graves elevates the great joy of feeding birds, walking in the woods, and sharing a life, sometimes only in memory, with the people we love. Those who have passed on are remembered here and their stories become a source of light. The new work in MERCIFUL DAYS will remind readers why Ron Rash has said, "These poems have the music, wisdom, and singular voice of a talent fully realized, and make abundantly clear that Jesse Graves is one of America's finest young poets."