April 24, 2009

New Book: "Liquid Lunch" by Stephen Bess


One of the familiar tropes of the blues is that the ‘troubles of the world” (loss of a job or lover) can overcome us and the only forms of refuge are the arms of another lover (who will also betray) or in alcohol—the ultimate betrayer and bamboozler.



Yet we, like many of the speakers in Stephen Bess’s Liquid Lunch: Blues-Inspired Poetry, persist in this illusion because of the sweet, if ephemeral pleasures. Stephen Bess captures all of the anguish and the drama in poems such as “One Shot,” "Truth Serum," “My Baby Sue,” and my favorite, “Spoonful of Lovin’":

Please, please little baby

Run away with me



And I’ll show you just how sweet

life could really be



Stephen blogs at Morphological Confetti where you can purchase a copy of Liquid Lunch: Blues-Inspired Poetry.


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2 comments:

Stephen A. Bess said...

Geoffrey, thank you so much for this fantastic review of my first born! You're a good brother. I pray that it returns to you 100-fold. ~Peace and 1Love

Geoffrey Philp said...

Liquid Lunch was a pleasure to read, Stephen & I accept the blessing.

1Love,
Geoffrey