I recently made the acquaintance of a very talented poet called Mike Essig. I stumbled across Mike's work on HelloPoetry and was instantly smitted with it. I discovered that Mike had published two books of his poetry: Never Forgotten was an attempt to make sense of the horrors he witnessed in Vietnam as a young soldier, and Huck Finn, which deals in broader terms with what it means to be alive in America during this period of its history.
Mike and I begain emailing each other about writing, language and life in general, and he ended up asking me if I would consider recommending him to my publisher, B*Star Kitty Press, and maybe editing his next collection of poetry. Done and done.
The Kindle version is already out, and there will be a print version available in April.
It's a beautifully textured assortment of poems, earthy yet lyrical, narrated by a voice that's uniquely grained with experience. There are pieces that will make you smile, think, wince; there are pieces that hit you in the gut out of nowhere; there are pieces that welcome you into them like old, worn-in shoes; there are pieces you will remember late some night when you're by yourself, and remembering them will make you feel less alone. This collection of poetry makes you look at the banal and the everyday afresh; it finds magic and mystery in the mundane, and even Hawaiian shirts are poem-worthy when Mike Essig's writing about them.
Please do support this excellent (and thoroughly nice) poet. Below are a couple of his poems to whet your appetite...
