American Odyssey - Paperback

by Diane Kistner (Editor), Alan Catlin (Author)

American Odyssey is a poetic journey that began when Alan Catlin saw Mary Ellen Mark's life study of three young girls standing by a Coney Island boardwalk. He was struck by how, through this powerful photo, we immediately know where these girls have been, where they are going, and where they will end up. Marks' work focuses on the human element-the dispossessed, the children of the streets, the prostitutes here and aboard-with complete honesty and compassion. After first exploring Mark's work, Catlin then travels across a series of canvasses-satiric, imaginary, exaggerated-that all focus on humans experiencing some sort of physical or psychic pain. By the end of the book, with the REQUIEM exhibit of photographs by photographers killed in Vietnam, humans are still present but dwarfed by the war that engulfs them. These poems address silence and pain, and they offer redemption. Maybe.

Author Biography

Alan Catlin has been publishing in small press, university and literary magazines since the days of the mimeo revolution in publishing. More recently, he has expanded his publishing efforts to include the internet where he has been published in scores of poetry blogs and literary-focused online journals. He is also the poetry editor of misfitmagazine.net. Among his many chapbooks and full length books are Stop Making Sense plus Self-Portrait as the Artist Afraid of His Self-Portrait (both from March Street Press), Effects of Sunlight in the Fog (Bright Hill Press), The Schenectady Chainsaw Massacre (Staplegun), Only the Dead Know Albany (sunnyoutside), and Last Man Standing (Lummox Press).