The Salesman’s Shoes by James Roderick Burns Published by Modern English Tanka Press
Modern English Tanka Press is pleased to announce the publication of The Salesman’s Shoes, the first collection of tanka poetry by James Roderick Burns. This amazing performance is a superb debut for Burns’ verse and is gaining critical acclaim.
Baltimore, Maryland – September 19, 2007 – Working within the discipline of tanka, one of the world’s oldest continuously-written forms, this striking debut collection by James Roderick Burns identifies the absurdities and deflations of the human condition, from farm boys thinking of flying saucers to a workaday vision of the end of the world. Intelligent, witty, sometimes melancholic in their beauty, the poems constitute a collection to be relished.
Praise for the book:
Mike Stocks, Anon: “The Salesman’s Shoes presents us with the common reality of ourselves and our situations, but in formulations that we have never encountered before. The language is cool and lucid, the content is striking, the imagery is superbly memorable, and the perspectives are irresistibly appealing, making for a fine and satisfying body of poems.”
Sally Evans, Poetry Scotland: “For James Roderick Burns, the tanka form serves as a meter—of light or of syllables—through which an album is built up of city views, cafes, shopping malls and skylines as the ‘salesman’ treads his territory. There is room for observation, reflection, humour and philosophy in these 75 open-eyed poems, which contain many memorable, re-readable lines. You nearly walk by, but you stop. Acquire The Salesman’s Shoes, and acquire an understanding of tanka on this delightful traipse.”
Frazer Henderson, Haiku Scotland: “This is poetry you will want to share. A distinctive voice that makes the ordinary memorable, the common-place remarkable and the usual unusually quotable.”
Colin Will, Poetry Scotland: “subtle, personal and evocative, written by a poet who is not only a master of the form, but who has interesting things to say about the world . . . I hugely enjoyed this book: it's been an eye-opener and a joy to read”. At his blog (colinwill.blogspot.com), Colin Will wrote: “It’s simply beautifully written, and the author … is a master of the form . . . One of the unexpected outcomes of reading the poems was that it didn’t just make me want to read more tanka — it made me want to write tanka”.
Alan Hardy, NHI: “about as polished, succinct, sculptured and excellent as you can get . . . a poet in control of the techniques through which we view what he sees”.
Carlos Hiraldo, Galatea Resurrects: “a marvelous collection of tanka poems . . . the most successful poems in the collection open a deep well of ideas and emotions through a few choice words . . . a gifted and talented poet who says much with few words”.
M Kei, Modern English Tanka: “Burns’ work is proof that tanka is not all cherry blossoms and tea . . . Burns can find a lyric beauty in even the most wretched of experiences”.
About the Author:
James Roderick Burns was born in the north of England in 1972 and grew up on the Yorkshire moors. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford , and is the editor of a recent anthology, Miracle & Clockwork (Other Poetry Editions). He is currently enrolled in the Creative Writing programme at Oxford University and lives with his wife and daughter in Edinburgh, Scotland.
For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the author, contact: James Roderick Burns: by e-mail at jamesroderickburns (at) googlemail (dot) com. Publisher information at: www.modernenglishtankapress.com.
This book is available from http://stores.lulu.com/modernenglishtanka and from major booksellers; or from the publisher. Complete information and mail order form are available online at www.modernenglishtankapress.com.
Price: $13.95 USD. ISBN 978-0-6151-4396-5. Trade paperback. 96 pages, 6.00" x 9.00", perfect binding, black and white interior and exterior ink.
About Modern English Tanka Press:
Modern English Tanka Press is an independent equity publishing house in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to producing books and periodicals of lasting literary value. Our publications are produced using modern print-on-demand production and distribution methods. We publish the journals “Modern English Tanka” and “Atlas Poetica” and books of tanka, haiku, and other fine verse. We operate www.TankaCentral.com with its popular “Tanka News” blog, and the poetry web hub, www.ShortVerse.com.
Contact:
Denis M. Garrison, owner
Modern English Tanka Press
443-802-1249
Email to dmg (at) tankapress (dot) com.
www.modernenglishtankapress.com www.modernenglishtanka.com www.atlaspoetica.com
www.shortverse.com www.tankacentral.com www.tankanews.com
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