Places

Places was released by Sterling House. Ask for it at your local bookstore, order an autographed
copy from me, or order it straight from the publisher (the retail price might now be $8 -- the ISBN
number is 1-56315-043-3): Sterling House, 440 Friday Road, Pittsburgh PA 15209.

NEW: Amazon is reporting the book is out of print. Apparently, it too is a collector's item,
because Amazon is selling used copies for $41!!!

A SAMPLE POEM

The World Ran Dry
today suffering from
drawn out
hangover
the world ran dry
this week
Bukowski died
and one third of the
world's winemakers
will go broke
i
live in a tin can alley
world of rust and litter
l.a.
not paris
is burning
i was offered a teaching
job this week
at a major new york
university
contingent
upon my admission
into their phd program
only to receive a
rejection
letter that afternoon
from that very program
i
saw a dead dog
lying battered and
broken
on the side of the road
dalmation carcass
drying
under withering
california
sun
nights are better
here

       i sit in bed
and listen to the
sirens and the
screaming but at
least it's cool
and i can read
whatever & whomever
i choose
the world is dry

       right now
i am sweating seagull

sized drops

       panting hard
my leather jacket's
still drying out
trying to recover
from last night's party
i
downed 2 pints of jack
shot some tequila
and imbibed otherwise
a
scared white cat
with caroline blue
eyes scampered thru
frantic

       to avoid
blasting dj spinning
tunes
debauching the young
and

       you know
i could actually
hear people squish
the men sweaty
the women frothy wet
and
i lay in bed
now
thinking of futile
grant application
attempts and the
beautiful mexican girl
dancing with swaying
pendulous breasts while
wedding sized bells
frolic in my increasingly
shrinking dehydrated
head.

1995-2004 Scott C. Holstad
This poem originally appeared in Textual Studies in Canada.

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