In Guinness on the Quay, Peabody urges the questions of what makes the contemporary landscape, the totems, myths, meccas that we share. This is a mature voice singing life observed, life lived as a poem forever becoming embodied, in lines that reveal the deeply personal. Writing the moment, mining a timeless effect, the poet shows how the U.S. is a heart that longs for distillation, as Yeats’ writing desk meets the radioactive spiders of Three Mile Island. Joy and humor join all our fears in Peabody’s dazzling new collection.
Afaa M. Weaver 尉雅風
“Garrulous, raffish, expansive–these are the poems of an assured raconteur. A near-miss plane crash, a father’s hapless attempt to lactate, a love letter to Jimi Hendrix, an ode to discontinued crayon colours: to read Richard Peabody’s poems is to be charmed, surprised and entertained.”
Alex McRae Dimsdale
Richard Peabody is amongst the finest poets to so astutely capture the heart and soul of the American spirit in these original poems. His use of imagery, metaphor and humor all come together to create a totally unique and original style of poetry that takes into account everything from The Clash to postmodern poetry and Jimi Hendrix to William Butler Yeats. Mr. Peabody offers readers engaging and thought provoking poems that shakes the genre and rattles with words. This poet rocks! He knows the underside, the topside and the in-between of this American life. His poems succinctly capture the fine details and subtle nuances of what it is to be American. The poems in this collection will keep you returning for more and more. Richard Peabody has been writing beautifully crafted poems like this for years, and with this great collection, he shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
M.L. Liebler
author of I Want To Be Once and editor of Heaven Was Detroit and
the forthcoming I Just Wanna Testify: Poems about Detroit Music
