Description
Book SynopsisInception and implosion, Chicago's grit and grandiosity all come together in the finite poetic power of the original Slam igniter, renowned poet Marc Kelly Smith and his retrospect denotation,
Ground Zero.
Trade Review“Listen up: Marc Smith’s poems are performances, fast paced and quick talking, beep beepin' and zoom zoomin,’ urban and hard-charging, jazzy and impudent, utterly authentic, full Chicago. They are filled with life.” —Edward Hirsch, author of
Gabriel“What Marc Smith invented when he created the poetry slam was so deeply, intuitively perfect . . .” —Ira Glass, host of
This American Life"Harriet Monroe birthed the Chicago poetry scene at the start of the 20th century. Then Marc Smith came along at the end and gave it new life: straddling its fading body, pressing the heels of both hands down, hard, on its chest and hissing, 'BREATHE, damn you!' His words squeal and crackle, squish and gasp, always reflecting the city of his birth, a city forever in decline, yet forever struggling to rise again. Read them with joy and sorrow." —Neil Steinberg, co-author
Out of the Wreck I Rise: A Literary Companion to RecoveryTable of Contents
- Uptown Monologue
- No Exit Sunday
- Nobody’s Here
- Ground Zero
- Man on his Cell Phone Shouting
- Winter Café
- Face on the Floor
- The Sign Rattled
- Pyromaniac
- Ball Park Poem
- Conga Beat
- Bradley
- Cockren
- My Father’s Coat
- Corners
- Chips
- Breakfast
- Rush Street Shuffle
- Stuttering Light
- Rosie
- Moon Moan
- Impudence
- Arnold the Jazz Prophet
- Turning Ten
- Small Talk
- Ameritech
- Deep Dish Chicago
- IT the Problem
- IT the Solution
- Something
