SUNSHINE STATE by Gregg Shapiro
Gregg Shapiro observes and writes about his adopted state with wisdom, passion, a quiet humor, and a sharp eye for detail.
“When you live/in a state shaped like a gun, everything/is a bullet, a target.”
“Hurricanes want grave/and dodgy names that inspire terror, words that cause the speaker and/the listener to wince, struggle for breath. Hurricane Motherfucker./ Hurricane Bloodbath. Hurricane Apocalypse. Hurricane Armageddon.”
His poems also sing about Florida’s beauty. In his poem “Wynwood Walls,” he writes
“Maureen told me about them first, in a poem/she read at Los Manos Gallery in Andersonville./Her detailed and vivid description made my eyes/and mouth water simultaneously.”
In “Making Light,” he observes
“The days are long and/filled with more daylight than anyone could possibly use./It’s a losing battle to keep your face from turning towards/the glow…”
Shapiro reveals having “Peas for Breakfast” and bemoans “Because of Facebook.” And he celebrates beloved dogs.
“Adopting a dog was not in the plans, a little/more than a week after k.d. died, but Sharon said/it was bashert, a mitzvah, to provide her with a new/home when Willie grew too ill to care for her.”
Sunshine State contains 28 pages of 17 poems. The poems are printed on a richly textured ivory paper. The cover card stock is a creamy matching ivory; the inside card stock is a warm textured pumpkin color. The gorgeous cover art, “Electric Entrance, 2014,” by Cleveland artist Timothy Gaewsky, explodes with life and light.
Gregg Shapiro is the author of Fifty Degrees (Seven Kitchens, 2016), selected by Ching-In Chen as co-winner of the Robin Becker Chapbook Prize. Other books by Shapiro include the short story collections How to Whistle (Lethe Press, 2016) and Lincoln Avenue: Chicago Stories (Squares and Rebels Press, 2014), the chapbooks GREGG SHAPIRO: 77 (Souvenir Spoon Press, 2012), and More Poems About Buildings and Food (Souvenir Spoon Press, 2019), and the poetry collection Protection (Gival Press, 2008). His poetry was recently featured in South Florida Poetry Review, Gay and Lesbian Review, Chelsea Station Magazine, the 2018 anhinga press anthology Reading Queer, and the anthology Lovejets: Queer Male Poets on 200 Years of Walt Whitman (Handtype Press, 2018). An entertainment journalist, whose interviews and reviews run in a variety of regional and mainstream publications and websites, Shapiro lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his husband Rick and their dog Coco.
Shapiro will begin a book tour in August, and will make a Cleveland appearance on his tour. He will read and have copies of his book…and NightBallet Press will be there!
The 2019 Summer Tour itinerary is as follows:
Aug 3 OutWrite 2019 – Washington D.C.
Aug 4 Outlandish – Cleveland, OH
Outlandish Imprint Zine Fair
9740 Madison Ave.
Lakewood, OH
Aug 7 Women & Children First Books – Chicago, IL
Aug 8 Outwords Books – Milwaukee, WI
Aug 14 Southland Books (w/musical guest Jeff Heiskell) – Maryville, TN
Aug 15 Charis Books and More (w/Collin Kelley) – Decatur, GA
Shapiro’s poems will warm your heart and singe your senses, in the best of ways! Published today, here in the dog days of summer, Sunshine State is a seasonal reading list must-have!
Bask in the light of the Sunshine State…buy today for only $10 plus $4 s/h!
Source:: NightBallet Press
