We need no names for this., by Orion Overstreet

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features. We need no names for this. is a book about wonder; not as a fleeting, transient thing, but as something with roots. Set in and defined by the Mississippi Delta where the author was born, raised, and currently lives, these poems find beauty in swarms of mosquitoes, clogged storm drains, swamp mud, gas stations, deer shit, waiting shifts, and tire changes. It relentlessly tugs at the ordinary, finding kernels of meaning that belie the deeper connections and humanity waiting within anything we are willing to take the time to see. In doing so it embodies an immense sense of hope that connection, love, and beauty could be the heartbeat, not the ephemera of daily life. In every moment of loneliness, cruelty, or dreariness, the poems continue hoping by continuing to look for some greater humanity that can connect us back to a wellspring of feeling and, if nothing else, understanding. At the same time, We need no names for this. explores the all-permeating, wordless soul of a land as old and storied as the Mississippi Delta. As opposed to being set on top of them, the poems are inextricably intertwined with the thick slow-moving river, the unwieldy swamp trees, the flocks of birds and bugs moving over and over the floodplains, and the rich river basin loam. Robed in time, and therefore carrying the wisdom of things that last, these are sometimes the clues and sometimes the answers for this book’s youthful, earnest questions. Again and again it is established that the land and it’s life are the reason that these stories are unfolding—the poems are not abstractions of or daydreams taking place on top of the Delta, they are deeper examinations of its processes, and what humanity can look like on its rich river soil. Orion is a sophomore at the University of Memphis studying classical composition. He writes poems and music that pull inspiration and depth from the Mississippi Delta, which he loves immensely; and has won numerous national and international recognitions and opportunities for his songs and instrumental pieces. For his poems, he has gotten very sweet compliments from his family and friends. When he’s not in classes or working his waiting job, Orion spends a lot of time walking up and down the train tracks in Memphis, exploring whatever swamps, forests, and floodplains his beloved but janky car can muster up the courage to make it to, dancing to his favorite orchestral works and world folk albums, and hanging out with the warm and wonderful people he loves. Orion also loves most bugs, light moving on leaves, finger foods, doing cartwheels, large scale pranks and bits, wearing bizarre costumes for no good reason, and trespassing (to get into forests and the like). “Like a slightly bigger five-year-old boy.”- his friends and family.