first published in http://misfitmagazine.net/
Karl Koweski, Abandoned by All Things, Roadside Press
Distributed by Magical Jeep Distribution, available on Amazon, 2024, 136 pages $15-
Koweski’s journey in life travels from the Midwest to the deep South. He observes Alabama’s barely sentient senator Tommy Tuberville as “the mostly evil, largely senseless/senator of Alabama” whose modest credentials for elective office, (to us Northerners, who could give a rat’s ass about college football,) was as a relatively successful coach at Auburn. Koweski’s musings about life are from the point of view of a guy who never completely “straightened out and flew right” as a football coach would demand. In fact, he was what you would call a fuck-up, but one who became an unpretentious, regular guy. He’s a stand-up dad and husband who remains a devoted Chicago Cubs fan, which once was, until recently, the ultimate exercise in futility. One could argue lifelong Cubs fans know loyalty beyond the boundaries of common sense (a sentiment Red Sox fans can appreciate) but ultimately paid off. The Cubs are and continue to be, an extension of the family, one could argue, which makes the poem for the late Ron Santo, a symbol of hardnosed, unflinching toughness as a player that transferred to his life and a fatal battle with a disease that claimed parts of his body piece by piece, until he died. Fittingly, a fantasy poem describes how the poet is faced with a choice by the deity who governs the afterlife, “Cubbies winning the World Series/or Trump losing the presidential election…”(of 2016) Of course, the poet chooses the Cubbies winning the World Series. Somewhere Ernie Banks is smiling…As Koweski mused, “how batshit crazy could Trump/truly be?” Alas, we are finding out now…The bottom line was, remains, it was an impossible choice and you had to choose something. The lady or the tiger? Koweski is a poet for the reader who grooves on the stuff of everyday life.
Abandoned by All Things by Karl Koweski is available at https://www.magicaljeep.com/product/abandon/164
Other Books by Karl Koweski:
Under Normal Conditions (poetry)
Thrift Store Jackets (stories)
