There is never a good time to publish another collection of poetry and essays. But then again, there is never a bad time to publish another collection of poems and essays. And so I feel entirely justified and motivated to add my own work to the mountain of words already bending the shelves of bookstores and libraries around the world.
In the spring of 2012 I put together a very short collection or chapbook of poetry titled Wing Nut. So called because instead of any traditional binding the pages were secured by a brass wing nut and bolt in the top left corner. Not elegant, hard to stack, but certainly unique, affordable, and curious enough to cause comment at poetry readings. This new collection of poems, essays and short stories contains a few of the pieces from Wing Nut and a selection of my work since then.
I am not capable of explaining exactly why poetry is important. It does not attract a lot of attention in our schools, and announcing that you are choosing to major in Poetry produces anxiety very high on the parental Richter scale. But it seems that poetry has not disappeared and the bookstores and libraries must make room for them.
Not quite so eschewed is the art of essay writing. But how many of us have been introduced to someone who calmly lets you know they are an essayist? Not even the famous journalists who write for the New Yorke, Harpers and the Atlantic will easily admit this. The essay. It was indeed one of the horrors of my own education; the fear of being instructed to write “an essay, three pages, single space, subject is dogs and their owners” to be marked out of ten by a cynical worn out chalk dusted English master.
I did not exactly choose my education and somehow became a chemist almost by default. I did not even start reading poetry until I was in my forties and actually daring to write any until my fifties. It was not until I larded my cabaret style singing show; another story; with poetry and saw the effect it can have on people that I began to read more of it and write more. Not exactly a power trip but a way of connecting perhaps.
The poems and essays in this collection do not have a theme although some are obviously very personal. I hope that they bring something to you or out of you. If you enjoy them I am doubly pleased.
Bob Sterry
August 2018
表中的内容
Contents
Foreword x
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction xiv
Poems and Essays
A Tale of Two Picnics 16
The Bob Sterry School of Burglary 18
Horizons are Deceptive 21
Love and Sunshine 22
Pinot 23
Sessio Cervisia, Ubi Es? 24
Letting In 30
Monocular Malevolence 31
Tony’s World 32
Cricket 47
London Road 48
We Don’t Eat Scandinavians! 50
My Personal Fruit Fly 53
Smoke 53
Rhubarb 54
Peenemunde 56
May is National Grilled Cheese and Poetry Month 59
Maxwell’s Axe 59
Yellow Pole Theater 60
Unused Wings 62
Le Grande Festival des Grenouilles Cuites 64
My Medical Inventory 65
Kerosene Kettles 66
Ocean Kinetics 67
The Moon is Leaving 68
That Sucks! 70
Singing Terracotta Pot 73
Vernal Equinox 74
Oregon Spring 75
At Solstice 75
New Year’s Day 76
Hands Up Everyone Who Knows and Loves the Negroni! 78
Fraction 81
Let’s Demo! 82
A Walk 86
Yellow Cords 88
Going to Cairo 91
Basil Wars 92
A Little Taste of Tarmac 96
A Fine Vocabulary or An Entertaining Fool 98
Sibling Trees or The Lonely Ones 100
Dunsinane Associates 102
Nap Time 106
I Got This Body 107
Not My Barbecue 108
First Kiss 115
Freeway Backup 116
Biography 119
关于作者
Charlie Clark has had a 40-year career of domestic and international book production. Attended the Stanford Publishing Course and he returned for an Executive Refresher when the industry began to change to digital photography and design instead of transparencies and mechanical design.
He currently runs a small publishing house under the imprint of Charlie Clark Books, llc.
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