I had the honor of reading last Thursday with three very fine poets at Brainfood Books in Longmont, Colorado: Larry Gladeview, John Dorsey, and Jerry Smaldone. These aren’t names you’re going to find in academic journals. They all toil outside the academy and as result their poetry is honest, real, and very often raw. The academicians would probably call their poetry naive and lacking in sufficient depth to be worthy of their attention, which is what Pound, Eliot, and many critics to this day say of Whitman who, to my mind, is one of the greatest American poets of any age. Now that I’ve made my feelings known and laid myself bare to charges of gross envy, simple-mindedness, naivity, and anti-intellectualism, let me just say that you can’t go wrong if you seek out their books. Or seek them out in person if any of them are doing a reading at a venue near you. You can find their books at Brainfood Books [332 Main St. Suite B1, Longmont, CO] and at Innisfree Poetry Bookstore [13th & Pennsylvania Boulder, CO] (on The Hill). I don’t know where you’ll find the flesh and blood poets at any particular time. Probably at their day jobs, their desks, backyards, alleys of Denver or Toledo, or their favorite bars.
Jerry Smaldone’s latest is All Flesh Shall See It Together [Turkey Buzzard Press, 2009]. He’s due for another soon and I, for one, can’t wait.
Larry Gladeview’s latest two are a chapbook, Lowlifes, Fast Times & Occasionaly Love [erbacce-press, 2012] and Just Ignore the Beer Stains [PigeonBike Press, 2011].
John Dorsey’s latest is Tombstone Factory [Epic Rites Press, 2013.