Let the Forest Go is a memoir in poetic fragments that follows a queer Appalachian's quest for truth as he explores memory, intergenerational trauma, and the rise of authoritarian power. During the turbulent 2016 US presidential election, Justin B. Wymer experienced a sense of dislocation while teaching English in Spain—where the landscape resembles his home region, but cultures differ deeply. Through letters, poems, and vignettes, this intensely personal and formally inventive work captures his impressions, blending lyric prose and verse to offer a unique examination of belonging.
In this liminal space, time, and environment, Wymer dissects his multifaceted identity as an expat, a gay man raised in a religious, small West Virginia town, a member of a family involved in the opioid epidemic, a mourner caught within Appalachia's poorly understood grieving rites, and a human witness to ecological devastation. By searching for beauty amid past and present destruction, Let the Forest Go attempts to embody queerness through fluctuating form and interrogates whether memory, being unavoidably fictional, is a viable source of inspiration.
Justin B. Wymer is a writer and educator from West Virginia. His first poetry collection, DEED, won the Antivenom Poetry Award from Elixir Press. He has received honors from the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard Office for the Arts, Academy of American Poets, University of Iowa, and the University of Denver. His poems and essays appear in publications such as Black Warrior Review, Boston Review, Kenyon Review, LitHub, and West Branch. Find him online at justinwymer.com
