My new book of poems, The Cheapskates, from Lunar Chandelier Press, will be out soon (see below for a sample). There's a book launch party, April 13th at 6PM at the Bowery Poetry Club. The book will be available there at a special discount. Come one come all! Details:
Book Launch Party for
The Cheapskates by Jerome Sala
April 13, 6PM
With Readings by
Jerome Sala
and Guests:
Bob Holman
Vincent Katz
Elaine Equi
Kimberly Lyons, publisher
of Lunar Chandelier Press, will host.
at The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery
(between Bleeker & Houston)
Special Discount on the new Book
FREE
Advance Praise for The Cheapskates:
Wayne Koestenbaum writes: "Jerome Sala's cheeky, splashy poetry seems never seems to be in a bad mood: he sails through profound political and historical issues with a tone of insouciance that -- like an erudite carnival barker's -- successfully lures us into the tent. Indeed, The Cheapskates has a Cecil B. DeMille fullness, each of its sideshows masterfully spacious within close quarters. I hear in Sala's voice the lovable sound of a storyteller-trickster who wants to beguile listeners into a reverie with no strings attached.
Joanna Fuhrman writes: "Jerome Sala's brilliant and hilarious poetry perfectly distills how it feels to live at the sparkling, flashy, hollow heart of late capitalism. His poems make ideas rattle and zing. This isn't 'neo' anythin', it's actually new."
Sample from The Cheapskates
Here are the first three poems in the book:
LATER, CLIFF
when I was a mouse
in a cartoon
chased by a cat
I said, "later, cliff"
as I ran into midair
but the cat followed me out
into the mighty void
of
(I thought)
escape
and we stayed there
above the infinite drop
feet and paws pedaling
long and short noses gasping
tails whipping into the great cool
nothingness
perpetual popular machines
until
we
looked
down
--------------------
WHO WILL BE AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MANNEQUIN?
in the commercial
men and women audition
to become mannequins
for a chain of stores
that sells casual party clothes
it's easier to work in the "Service Industry"
with a perpetual smile, hands frozen
in a greeting that broadcasts happiness
with professional grace
once people begged to be awakened from their roles
now they must prove
that they can sell in their sleep
there's an elegance to their somnambulism
a courage and a confidence:
that it's possible to achieve warmth with a blank stare
one that never bumps into the wall
of a customer's personality
one that reflects all interpersonal affection
back onto the clothes at hand
---------------------------------
REALITY EVERYTHING
The great thing about everything becoming public
is that this means nothing is.
You are traceable like a cigarette at night,
but no one is there to enforce the no smoking sign.
The lights are on, but no one's on the phone.
Those peaceful scenes after the plague
has annihilated the small town,
and no one's left in the restaurant or department store,
have all come true -- and yet no one's dead,
the market is more crowded than ever,
the street packed with stalled traffic,
the sky dark from flocks of planes,
punks in the overpopulated corners, the gangways,
under the street lamps, still sniffing glue --
but no one's there to get high --
all gone somewhere far away
leaving their lives behind
to go on living without them.
The Cheapskates will soon be available through Small Press Distribution (SPD) and Amazon. Better yet, come to the party on April 13th, and get a signed, discounted copy.