Local author Jason Holton publishes first book with Chapbook Press

In his debut publication, “Eventually, All of Them Are Lost,” local author Jason Holton showcases 20 original poems that reflect on the fragility of human memory. At 61 pages it’s an attractive and small-statured book, published by Schuler Books’ Chapbook Press. The stark white cover features an image of the human skull’s interior, taken from Henry Gray’s “Gray’s Anatomy.” Other images from “Anatomy” appear throughout the book’s interior.

“The images are in the book because of the over-arching themes,” explains Holton. “The book focuses on memory. Most of that is mental, but the body is where that memory goes.”

He goes on to explain that the illustration on the cover represents where memory is contained, and that similar connections can be found in the other images he chose.

“The images distributed throughout are haphazard to a degree, but they all represent what I’m talking about,” he says. “The image of the spine leading up to the brain at the beginning, the head turned away to show the exposed throat under Demon’s Tail, all of it is meant to signify that the whole body is used in making and losing the memories we have lived.”

The illustrations also manage to periodically change the presentational tone the book takes.There are a few poems in the book simply adorned with titles like “Fig. 2” and “Fig. 9”, which Holton points out, makes them seem more like “displays or parts of an exhibit.”

The museum-like quality meshed well with the themes Holton was exploring while writing the book.

“I liked the idea of a museum of memory,” he says. “A place where I could go looking from exhibit to exhibit, recognizing some things as though they happened yesterday and other things as though they were dredged up from someone else’s mind.”

Holton says the bulk of the work that appears in “Eventually, All of Them Are Lost” was written within a period of two months. The book presents a very cohesive and relatable theme, which is only enhanced by Gray’s somewhat eerie illustrations.

“The idea of [the book] from the start is based on the fact that unless I really concentrated on the time I’ve spent alive, I don’t even think about the experiences that have gathered themselves in my past and made me who I am today,” says Holton. “I could say the whole thing is about loss in general, but for me it became [more] about rediscovery.”  

In addition to “Eventually, All of Them Are Lost” Holton is in the midst of writing a second poetry collection, and is in the middle of his first novel.

He says the second collection- tentatively titled “What We Learned From the Fire”- will be less deliberately structured than “Eventually,” but might also seem more cohesive in the long run.

“The newer stuff I’m doing is a bit more experimental,” he explains. “If “Eventually” is a more passive look at the moments I’ve lived and wanted to hold onto, then “What We Learned” is about the process of living them.”

Holton’s other work-in-progress, his novel, grew from a short story he originally wrote “about a year or so ago.”

“While no longer about the character I wrote the short story for, [the novel] has developed a sort of community of characters that I am pleased to get to know,” he says. “Writing a novel was never [originally] in the picture because I didn’t know how to go about it, but the more I thought about it the more I thought I could make something of it. Hopefully that translates and hopefully other people will find that community of people interesting to read about.”

His progress on the novel has been steady, and even if it has taken him down some unexpected detours he’s confident about its continuation.

“Right now I’m certain about how it will end,” he says. “I’m just not certain how it will get there.”

Holton says he has wanted to be a writer since childhood, but that his true body of work didn’t really start to form until the past few years.

“I went to school for writing and after I’d completed my degree I thought of it as a total waste,” Holton says. “That’s the cynic’s approach. Everything had to be about growth, about productivity and how much money you made from it. I am happy to admit that my views have evolved since then.”

“I had the same life views then as I do now,” he says. “I value expression and conversation and that’s what my degree gave me. It took me a while to get my footing, but over the last couple years I’ve felt productive and happy with where I’ve been and where I’m going.”

“Eventually, All of Them Are Lost” is available on the shelves at Schuler Books and Music on 28th Street and at Amazon.com.