The Grammar of Nightmares

About the Book

This collection of poems is the final version assembled by the author during his life. For Jacob, art was an emotional force that conveyed powerful meaning. He viewed art as the freeing of and unchaining from previous structures of thought. Jacob felt that art was rooted in ordinary experience; it grows out of the ordinary into something different that has a special quality. Art unrounds the ordinary and shoots it off in another direction. This collection portrays the ebb and flow of Jacob’s life with its gains and losses, breaks and reunions. He sought love and believed in romance, even if it caused great pain. Proceeds from this collection will be donated to the Jacob Scanlan Fund at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, his favorite art museum.

About the Author

Jacob Scanlan was born in Houston on November 29, 1979, and studied philosophy and poetry at the University of Houston. As an avid reader of poetry, he was most influenced by the works of Poe, Dickinson, Baudelaire, Artaud, Breton, Rimbaud, and Riding-Jackson. His background in the area of philosophy gives his poetry an insight and perspective that is rare among poets. His philosopher’s mind was always thinking and seeking new truths which he felt compelled to share. He has had individual poems published in magazines, an anthology, and on poetry websites. He was a guest poet on The Spoken Word, a Rice University radio show. He died on Tuesday morning, September 23, 2008, at the age of twenty eight.