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He
was a sensation the first time around, and now Willie's back! Firewheel
announces the re-release of Charles Kesler's The Book of Willie.
"Willie" is Kesler's
undisguised alter ego—a Vietnam combat vet whose deck is stacked
with rabid trick-or-treaters, nuclear terrorists, and grumpy VA
hospital volunteers. Funny, touching, and uncannily relevant in
light of current events, these poems remind us that the soldiers
we send to fight our wars may go on fighting them for the rest of
their lives.
These Willie poems are deceptively
simple, often pointing as much to what is unsaid as to all that
is. At times, the humor of these poems seems to be driven by a
quiet current of real pain, real yearning, but this is always
offset by the playful mischief in the voice, which invites us
to enjoy Willie’s gentle lunacy and to see in him some of
our own goofy quirkiness. An escape into Willie is a worthwhile
excursion.
—Tim Seibles
author of Hammerlock
The Book of Willie, like Willie’s hair, mirrors the
renegade soul of one late-20th century, Bible Belt denizen who
refuses to pretend life is simple. It reads like the anecdotes
in smalltown newspapers, and haunts like the stories that don’t
make it into the small-town paper, the stories overheard in beauty
parlors and at domino tables about the men who came back from
Vietnam, but didn’t come all the way back. Charles Kesler
knows Willie’s story well, and when you’re finished
reading his book, you’ll want to repeat the stories, too.
—Brian Clements
author of Essays Against Ruin
If you don not wish to
use PayPal you can order books by mail. |
