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Open Books: Events
May 01, 2008 07:30 PM
JOHN BURGESS
This evening marks the launch of John Burgess’s second collection, A History of Guns in the Family ($12.95 Ravenna Press), a gathering of haiku-like poems, ballads, and snapshot narratives. His work can be quietly philosophical -- “it takes / know-how / how not / to paint sky” -- and vigorously descriptive -- “Christ you drowned it she / bitched. Too much water / in her whiskey ditch. How // disgust smolders. / Her cigarette left lit / edge of kitchen table.” By turns political, humorous, and moving, this is beat-Zen-blues-infused poetry, its language spare -- “pine pines / boughs bow” -- and tumbling -- “unstop what stops this glottal stop,” equal parts grit and tenderness. The first 150 copies of the book include a CD of the author reading a number of the poems.
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