You walk out the door for work on a Monday morning and immediately drop your coffee in the apartment hallway. You take a bad step on the stairs and almost do the splits. It’s raining and your umbrella is in the car which is in the parking lot 500 feet away. People dash out in front of you while you’re driving, a clap of thunder almost literally scares the crap out of you. Your office badge won’t work, computer doesn’t boot up, you’re late clocking and you don’t know it but this is the best your day is going to be.
Imagine every emotion felt in this short time and these are the same emotions you’ll feel reading this poetry collection. When you’re done reading it you’ll want to cry or take a shower to wash the depressive grit of life from your skin. Or you may want to cry in the shower and get them both out of the way. This is life and life is poetry but you will most definitely feel a small sense of hope when you’re done.
These words are grounded in reality and sometimes you have to face the reality of life because running away is only a temporary fix. Buckle up, take a breath and know that all of it, even life itself is only temporary. That tiny glimmer of hope in your gut may only be the size of a glowing ember from an almost-spent cigarette, but that is all you need.
2 poems from “Standing Lonely in the Alley”
Will we remember when we’re gone?
I remember one of the sillier things as a child
that seems so strange now
she would hang plastic eggs
on a tree in the front yard for the Easter holiday
dozens of them
like you or I would decorate a Christmas tree
it just didn’t seem like her
but after a while she didn’t seem like her
~~
The easy life
there was a man
on the deck of a long cargo ship
moving toward the mouth of the Cuyahoga
he was sitting comfortably on a folding chair
as if he had done this a hundred times before
a beacon guiding the ship
through the winding river
he waved
I waved back
I wish I had it so easy
What are people saying?
“Ken Tomaro’s new collection of poetry is a bitter tour de force of grief and disappointment, with humor guiding the poems throughout the chapbook. Ken writes with an acerbic wit in conversational free verse. Read him for his expression of life’s surprise and often tragic-comic experience, and read him for his craft.”
–Robert Allen, author of Big Blue Hospital and Other Poems
“Ken Tomaro’s no-nonsense approach to poetry is ostensibly influenced by decades of adversity and the stressful ups and downs of daily life. However, the brilliance lies in the interwoven humor softening and sometimes mocking the sad and often dark corners of our lives. While this may admittedly be unintentional, the recurring harsh tone and subject matter of Ken’s words regularly hint at an underlying layer of optimism. His stark, observational style is undeniable, yet he occasionally recalls vignettes from his childhood, bringing additional flavors of nostalgia and sentimentality into his poetry. Ken sums up his personal trajectory best: ‘I certainly don’t have it straight and level now, but straighter than it has been.’”
–Tom Heath, fan and friend since 1982
“In Standing Lonely in the Alley, Ken is a master chef, skilled at combining nostalgia, humor, pointed observations of life, and gut punches into a tasty dish of words you won’t forget.”
— Nolcha Fox, author of Words into Elephants, Cancer Isn’t Just a Constellation, and others.
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