The latest in our series of teeny-tiny mini-poetry chapbooks, book 8 in the Pocket Protector series is no small or short feat! This tiny book is jam-packed with tons of poems about Catlin's bar life, broken into two sections: Short and Shots. The section of shorts are quick swigs of observations about patrons, sketches of random moments at the bar, painted in the same hazy way as a drunk would be thinking, the abstract blips coming together to create a larger story. The section of shots are full character profiles of different patrons who fit the names and types of various drinks and shots that Catlin, a now-retired bartender, has made a thousand times in his life. These are the people onto whom one stumbles in any bar, able to be pinned to their drinks easily, the stereotypes and inner monologues revealed as fists are pounded on the bar for one more round; or the batting of an eyelash requests a free treat; or the stubborn martini drinker needs his drink extra extra dry, stirred not shaken over light ice, slightly dirty, straight up, with three olives... and then sends it back because it's too watery, of course, after he drank over half of it. This little gem is a tale of bar life, a life most of us have encountered at least once, and of which many can so easily or shamefully relate. A must-have for your collection! Copies can now be purchased online; or through the mail for $3 (plus $2 US shipping; $3 out-of-US shipping) via cash, check, or money order made out to Alternating Current, PO Box 398058, Cambridge MA 02139 USA; or via PayPal with the email address alt.current@gmail.com. All authors on our press receive royalties for each copy sold, and each purchase comes with a free random book from the archives while we clean house.
This book includes:
Cover art:
leah angstman
Poems by Alan Catlin:
Part one: short:
[Blue flame on]
[Bar with no name]
[Inside sleazy dive]
[Waking drunk after]
[Old men silently drinking]
After reading Eileen Myles
[Low cut t-shirt]
[She was so hot]
After hours
[In dim tavern light]
Tequila Sunset
[One ski pole broken off at]
An American Werewolf in London
[In neon bar light,]
Sick Shit
[Drunk young woman]
[Power failure in the bar]
[Lights up after]
almost
Signed sealed delivered
[She sd.]
[First light through]
Part two: shots:
Flying Dutchman
Golden Cadillac
Irish Bastard
Sex on the Beach (without sand)
It was hard to explain
Pink Lady
Brave Bull
Kamikaze
Velvet Hammer
Mind Eraser
Dead Head
Between the Sheets
T.K.O.
Aggravation
Italian Stallion
Silk Panties
Primal Kamikaze
French Connection
Screaming Orgasm
Belfast Bomber
L.I.T.
Sicilian Kiss
Monster Shot
Buckshot
The Big Chill
please send all responses to alt.current@gmail.com
