"What a great premise for an anthology And it succeeds, both in its celebration of our crazy culture and its fascinating analysis, through the poems, of popular myths that have stood the test of time." -Kliatt

In the past few decades, poetry about and around popular culture has become a very hip contemporary art form. Real Things is a collection of over 150 poems by more than 130 poets who themselves represent the cultural diversity of the United States. With subjects ranging from the influence of Mickey Mouse on child-raising to the relationship of Barbie to sex in America, from...

Southern poetry with a gothic twist

A Southerner by birth, Susan Swartwout's history and writing are steeped in the gothic elements of quotidian life in the Deep South, a celebration of difference and the uncommon odd beauties who embellish our plain lives. These poems explore the lives of freaks celebrities of Southern fairs' sideshows such as conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker's married lives, the Fat Lady's work schedule, Tom Thumb's Barnum-warped ego, all parallel to the hidden desires, plots, and jealousies of the rest of us. Our exterior normality belies the internal twisted...