As the title suggests, Poetraits contains poetic ruminations about the people whom poet Rosé finds himself ruminating. The categories range from the rich and famous (or infamous) — Frank Sinatra, Janet Reno, saxophonist Steve Lacy — to the unknown, to categories of persons such as “Wonderful Women” and “Bikers.” There are also poems about particular events and a few “things” (such as a cigarette).
Rosé’s poems are high spirited and very funny. In a self-portrait entitled “Personal Column,” he describes the wild responses the narrator receives after placing a classified ad: “Poet, cranky and demanding / Seeks infinite understanding.”
“A rare opportunity awaits the reader in this tango of language as moving and as graceful as the dance of that name. Here for the engaging mind are poetic utterances from an American unknown master of the word. His subjects are the illusive ordinary. In the mind’s eye of humor, transliterated and perfumed in the beauty of language, he renders the ordinary profound.” — Godfrey Reggio
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Why this book matters
- High-spirited, funny, and formally precise — rhymed verse that makes the ordinary profound without ever losing its sense of play
- Portraits of the famous, the unknown, and the categorical — a democratic and delightfully eccentric cast of subjects
- Praised by Godfrey Reggio as “a tango of language” from “an American unknown master of the word”
- A guaranteed antidote to dark moods — Rosé’s peppy verses lift the reader to a height where all of life looks more frivolous and free
- A distinctive and joyful addition to Synergetic Press’s commitment to visionary literary voices
