Unnecessary Tattoo & Other Stains on a Stainless Steel Heart by John L. Holgerson

Description

Unnecessary Tattoo & Other Stains on a Stainless Steel Heart

by John L. Holgerson

$14.49, paper

Among the several themes considered in his first collection of poems, Broken Borders, John L. Holgerson wrote about the landscape of the heart and the often shattered boundaries found there in the relationships between men and women as they try to balance love and desire with faithfulness and a search for individuality. In his second book of poems, the chapbook Unnecessary Tattoo and Other Stains on a Stainless Steel Heart, Holgerson continues this examination and exploration of the intertwining of commitment and identity and also comments on the internal struggles of identity within the art of poetry itself. At the book s outset, he declares “the poems we write are merely tattoos we have peeled from the skin of our hearts.” In Unnecessary Tattoo, those tattoos consist of flowing lines and sensory images inked onto the page in both rhyme and free verse storytelling. With a voice that is eclectic and searching, John L. Holgerson “carves inks,” both personal and universal, peeled from the skin of a lyric heart even if it is made of stainless steel.

John L. Holgerson is the author of three books of poetry, Convictions of the Heart (forthcoming from In Case of Emergency Press 2021), Unnecessary Tattoo and Other Stains on a Stainless Steel Heart (Finishing Line Press 2016) and Broken Borders (Wasteland Press 2012). He has published poems in small literary journals, both in print (Modern English Tanka; Shadow Quill Poetry; Popt Art among others) and online (Page & Spine; Vincent van Gogh Gallery; MassPoetry; The Poetry Porch among others). He has been a featured poet at poetry venues in southeastern Massachusetts (Poetry: The Art of Words; Calliope; Arts & Humanity among others) and the greater Boston area (Chapter and Verse). He is the host of For the Love of Words, a monthly program on Easton (MA) Cable Access Television showcasing regional and local poets and musicians. At ECAT, in 2017, he produced a Leonard Cohen Tribute that aired to mark the first anniversary of Cohen’s passing. He also produced, moderated and read at the 2016 MassPoetry Festival presentation of Poets at the Bar: Five Practicing Massachusetts Attorneys Who Are Published Poets. He is listed in Poets & Writers’ Directory of Poets and Writers; is one of three MassPoetry representatives for Bristol County, Massachusetts; and is the founder of the Poetry as Verdict project providing a public venue for high school student-poets to read their work. Since 1995, he resides part of the year on the Greek island of Hydra. His author’s web site is www.johnlholgerson.com.