Oct 10
The Beats and later Charles Bukoswki cleared the way for the working class poet, the outlaw writer, and the mental outsider to enter literature. After Buk died in 1994 no one has really replaced his mantle. In the vacuum has swelled a generation of writers who seem to think if they get drunk and write …
Oct 05
I read this poem “After a Miracle” and a few others this week at Poetry Jam at the Civic Media Center from Nothing And Too Much To Talk About by Nancy Patrice Davenport, published by Roadside Press / Michele McDannold As I began to read the poems I was initially delighted, then excited. I really …
Sep 25
The Dead and the Desperate By Dan Denton Genre: Literary Fiction Reviewed by Maxwell Gillmer, Independent Book Review Beautifully written and utterly raw—a harrowing look at the life of an American factory worker There is no title more fitting for Dan Denton’s third book than The Dead and the Desperate. The story is borne of …
Sep 11
In Nathan Graziano’s latest book, Born on Good Friday from Roadside Press, the poet tells the story of a good Catholic boy’s coming of age that develops into a 40 year story that most of us can relate to. He checks all the boxes growing up and eventually leaves the confessional behind. Graziano’s book reads …
Aug 13
Kerry Trautman has a gift for shimmying away the veneer of seemingly simple moments to expose the depth and beauty of what lies beneath, the complexities and hidden passions. Unknowable Things celebrates the common and the spectacular on equal terms. “And so the poem starts as many others— at the kitchen sink, as peaches drip …
Aug 02
Misti Rainwater-Lites is one of the best writers alive, and in Clown Gravy, she out greats many of the great indie underground writers that so many of us hold in reverence, like Bukowski. Like Buk, Misti writes about the sweat, bruises and loneliness that living a misunderstood misfit life brings, but unlike Buk, she does …
Jul 27
Somewhere in the light filled mist of San Francisco teetering at the edge of the world wandering through the ghostly landscape of the pandemic drinking in parks and peeking out cheap chipped windows are the fiery eyes of William Taylor Jr. This candid glimpse into a poet’s life is where, “the universe is dumb and …
Jul 26
The streets listen to you — listen to them as you read this book. Knowing Westley Heine’s poetry and prose from previous works, and confident in his talent as a writer to educate, entertain, evoke and empathize (and sometimes all in the same work) Street Corner Spirits: poems & flash fiction, from Roadside Press, was …
Apr 24
St. James Infirmiry – a Review by William Taylor Jr. St. James Infirmary, a new collection of stories by Steven Meloan, is an engaging and pleasantly unpredictable read. The opening piece, “Googies,” does a solid job of setting up themes that are revisited throughout the book. What begins as a nostalgic first-person narrative of a …
Apr 16
St. James Infirmary by Steven Meloan (Review) This collection of essays might have been called Postcards From the Edge, had that title not already been taken. As a child of the 60s, a young adult in San Francisco in the 80’s, and a transplant to California, and ultimately LA, I can say with certitude that …
