Cigarette Butts and Lilacs
tokens of a heritage

by Andrew Riutta

Also available from major booksellers.

Price: $16.95 USD.
ISBN: 978-0-6151-9445-5
Trade paperback. 100 pages, 6.00" x 9.00", perfect binding, 60# cream interior paper, black and white interior ink, 100# exterior paper, full-color exterior ink.

With a rusty shovel in hand, Andrew Riutta digs deep in his first full-length poetry collection and exposes the bones of the Upper Midwest—which turn out to be his very own. From diabetes and broken teeth to silent prayers and the scent of wood smoke, Cigarette Butts and Lilacs is an account of a domesticity touched by this world’s sharpest corners, as well as its softest petals and snowflakes.

Praise for the book:

“The ‘metro-male’ of Montreal, New York City or Los Angeles has nothing over the refinements of this unhorsed, chain smoking samurai of rural, blue-collar America.” —Michael McClintock

“Here is post-Americana at its best. Using the newly developing east/west aesthetic of the 21st century, Riutta has found the exact language match to his midwestern, blue-jeaned environment. In Cigarette Butts and Lilacs, the feel of a culture runs like soil through your fingers.” —Larry Kimmel, editor of Winfred Press

“Riutta ranks high among the very best of contemporary tanka poets. His poetic sense of place, his self-assurance and acute knowledge of the character of rural midwestern America make this book invaluable.” —Kirsty Karkow