Local poet Justin Karcher is releasing his first book. BRO has featured some of Karcher’s poems on the website, although poetry is something that we rarely run. Poetry can be one of those artistic mediums which is not for everyone (especially those looking for news on the city’s development scene), though certainly warrants an occasional boost in all forums. That said, Karcher stated that he was not only excited about having his book – Tailgating at the Gates of Hell – published by Ghost City Press, he was also quite taken with the response that the collection of works garnered from Philip Burke, the award winning Rolling Stone illustrator and rock ‘n’ roll painter. The following blurb-poem was written by Burke to express accolades for the now-published poet:
“The thing with us – people from Buffalo, the loose loops in the Belt – is that we came out of the womb with lockjaw. We’ve never been able to open up our mouths, let alone speak whatever’s on our heart’s mind. It can be a big problem, because when you can’t find the right words, the only alternative is to keep digging. Sometimes you can’t help but dig up something nasty.”
“A breath of fresh air in the elmwood-bidwell vortex
wildly psychedelically floating
in fits and starts
thru the postmOdern wasteland
of drones on the asphalt plain
in the town of bicycles and beards
“david foster pynchon” of the rust belt
on a trajectory toward
his warm human heart
justin time.”
Justin Karcher is a playwright and poet living in Buffalo, NY. He is the Co-Artistic Director of Theater Jugend as well as its Playwright-in-Residence. His recent works have been published in 3:AM Magazine, The Buffalo News, Plenitude Magazine, Buffalo Rising, Melancholy Hyperbole, and more. He is the recent winner of the 2015 Just Buffalo Literary Center members’ writing competition. He tweets @Justin_Karcher. Or click here to order the book.