LatinosUSA

Juan Re Crivello – Do you think poetry is back in fashion?

Gary Grossman – Poetry is regaining its popularity.

JRC – Do you write poetry daily, or do you write as ideas come to you?

Gary Grossman – Writing for me is a daily practice.

JRC – What is your next publishing project? Could you tell us how it came about?

Gary Grossman – I’m always working on the next book. My inspiration is daily life and experience, so there are always things to write about. I just put together a chapbook of poems about my town, we’ll see who will publish it.

JRC – Can you tell us about the city you live in, and give a description of your favorite bar or café?

Gary Grossman – I live in Athens, Georgia, USA, a small city in the southeastern US. The town is known for two things, the University of Georgia and the music scene which gave birth to bands like the B-52s, REM, Pylon, Widespread Panic, and the Drive By Truckers, many of which still live in town. I live in a neighborhood named Five Points, which is an old residential area with a small commercial center (grocery, restaurants and bars, coffee houses, pharmacies) containing pretty much everything one needs — all within walking distance. It is like living in a village.

Permanence by Gary Grossman

At the end of Mom’s last night I wondered how

thoughts traverse closed eyelids, and which memories

would last like white alabaster? I mean, there’s

always another pizza after my wife

eats the last slice, even if I have to pick

up the phone to reorder. Do we still

say pick up the phone or is it just where’s

my cell blurted  to a now empty room,

the last person having left?  And what about

the sole remaining Luxardo cherry

in the jar—original maraschino, though

they have no stems so you can’t manage that bar  

trick for last call, the one of tying a knot

in the stem using only your tongue. A flex,

documenting your value as potential

lover, if only for one last hour on one last night,

and will your ultimate amour be the last person

you’ll entice into the empty atrium of your heart?

When you take them, will it be your last flat—this

current home, or will both lover and house slide

into the last chapter of your life’s manuscript.

Was it Schrodinger who said everyone is both

first, and last, as well as someone in between?

Paperback

Reviews of Gary Grossman’s books

https://offcourse.org/issue101/review_boehm.html

https://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=11300

Author Biography

Gary Grossman likes to write and share his work with readers. His work has been nominated for awards, but hasn’t yet won, so meh, right? Gary enjoys running, music, fishing, and gardening. His poetry books Lyrical Years (Kelsay), What I Meant to Say Was… Impspired), Objects in Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appear (Arroyo Seco), and graphic memoir My Life in Fish—One Scientist’s Journey… (Impspired) are available from Amazon or the author.