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A Former Life by Bill Cushing

$19.99

 

These poems face life head-on, with grit and grace.  Cushing is unafraid to face personal and public history, adeptly “playing it all.”  Here we have the personal and the profound, and like the final poem, the speaker of these poems accepts his fate, whether it be joyous or terrifying.

–Terry Ann Thaxton (author of three books of poetry as well as a textbook for creative writing; director of the MFA writing program for the University of Central Florida)

 

A Former Life gives us poems from a sharp eye, lending new revelation to what is right in front of us, Cushing turns a sharp eye on bodies that are broken, on things that seemingly cannot be fixed, on history, and on death in its various forms, and does not shy away. He sees and records these things as they are. These poems show how the world is both simple and complex.

–Christien Gholson (author of All the Beautiful Dead and A Fish Trapped Inside the Wind)

 

Earthy, exalted, Bill’s poetry is moving in both senses of the word.  I remember the first time I read “At a Mountain Waterfall.”  Its short, jagged opening lines made me feel that I, too, was “scuttling/platform/to platform/along the rocks,” not finding a foothold until later.  “Gabriel’s Coming” reveals his love for his son born “shaking and bloody/ as a wounded bird and/ not much different” after a prenatal stroke. “Planking the Tango” and “With Dad,” both grow out of his relationship with his larger-than-life father.  Still others, like “In Pink Neon” and “On Modest Mussourgsky’s ‘Bydlo,’” rely on his talent for observation and sensory detail.

–Marianne Szlyk (professor of English and Reading at Montgomery College in Maryland; author of three books, most recently On the Other Side of the Window (Pski’s Porch, 2018); and editor and founder of The Song Is…, a site for poetry inspired by music, especially jazz.

 

https://berryherwithpoems.com/2019/07/22/a-former-life/

 

 

 

 

#301 Backstory of the Poem: Bill Cushing’s “With Dad”

A Former Life

by Bill Cushing

$19.99. Full-length, paper

978-1-63534-938-2

2019

Named in honor of a Civil War Navy hero, Bill Cushing has lived in Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, Maryland, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico before moving to California. As an undergrad, he was called the “blue collar” poet by classmates at the University of Central Florida because of his years in the Navy and later working as an electrician on oil tankers, naval vessels, and fishing boats before he returned to college at the age of 37. He earned an MFA in writing from Goddard College in Vermont and teaches at East Los Angeles and Mt. San Antonio colleges. He now resides in Glendale with his wife and their son.

As a writer, Bill has been published in various literary journals, magazines, and newspapers, including The San Juan Star and the Florida Times-Union. His short stories have appeared in Borfski Press, Newtown Literary Journal and Sediments. His creative non-fiction piece “A Father’s Pride” was a finalist in 2016’s Pen 2 Paper competition for writings concerning the disabled.

He had poems in two issues of the award-winning Stories of Music, among other anthologies. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Bill was named as one of the Top Ten Poets of L.A. in 2017, and his work was featured in a collection of regional poets by Moon Tide Press in an anthology named Lullaby of Teeth, a title that from a line in one of his poems. He also has a poem featured in a textbook focused on Los Angeles for area high school students. His poetry has appeared in numerous journals, both in print and online, including Avocet, Brownstone Review, Glomag, Mayo Review, Penumbra, Poetry Nook, Spectrum, The Song Is. . ., and West Trade Review.

When not teaching or writing, Bill facilitates a writing workshop in Eagle Rock, California (9 Bridges). He also performs with a musician in a project called “Notes and Letters.” He invites anyone interested to visit and “like” their Facebook page or check their youtube page, “Chuck Corbisiero Bill Cushing Notes and Letters.”

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