Behind The Blurb part 1 of 3 Rosemarie Dombrowski (full blurb that wouldn't fit)

Jia and I are eternally grateful that three of our favorite artists/humans were willing to lend their time and support of our book, in convenient blurb form.

If you already know Rosemarie Dombrowski, Sean Bonnette, and Matt Hart, then you understand why we love them.

Otherwise, I will be posting a series of entries for each of their blurbs and some personal background on them and their own work and where to find it.

Today I will start with Rosemarie Dombrowski, who sent us a gigantic blurb that she knew would never fit on the back of the book. We almost moved it inside to use like a foreword, but we decided to take an excerpt and keep it on the back cover. Here is the full unabridged version:

Cactus Head (the mask, the man, the poet) is a metonymy for Phoenix—the wastelands and the outposts and the once-iconic venues, all of it juxtaposed with the ever-public persona of a dandy, someone (or something) as ubiquitous as street art and the steel shade structures that line our downtown streets.

The persona that Orion creates through verse – and that Oak Baker brings to life through image –is simultaneously the desert on drugs and in rehab. He is the curator of the ugly-beautiful, the faded bricks and the fairytale horizon. Accordingly, Orion perfectly captures the limbo of modern life with the opening lines of the opening poem: the Sonoran desert is an hourglass/knocked on its side.

But maybe the most delicious part is the fact that the line between ego and alter ego is invisible here, that every poem leaves you feeling as though you’re listening to the wire-tap tapes of some old-school hooligan (maybe Orion himself), like it’s all a veiled confession in the spirit of Whitman’s Calamus poems, arranged and rearranged into a secret sequence of desire and longing—though not for the transcendent, but rather for the ephemera, the scraps of pop culture and personal desire he’s collected along the way. Orion’s leaving them for us like a trail of breadcrumbs, like a topographical map into the heart of Phoenix.

Most importantly, this collection has proven that Phoenix is a real city, its streets choked with culture, the fatty tissue of its heart lined with punk rock politics and poets who are sometimes as hollow as pinatas.


~Rosemarie Dombrowski, inaugural Poet Laureate of Phoenix, founding editor of rinky dink press and The Revolution (Relaunch)

Both of RD's books are out of print and might be hard to find ("The Philosophy of Unclean Things" and "The Book of Emergencies"), but she also has a recent chapbook "The Cleavage Planes of Southwest Minerals [A Love Story] which can be found at Split Rock Review.


She is also the Founding Editor for rinky dink press and The Revolution (Relaunch)

photo from Kelly McGrath

Copies of Gravity & Spectacle can be ordered from Tolsun Books, Small Press Distribution, and even Amazon.

Or if you'd like to get a signed copy from me, just send $20 (free shipping)
through PayPal https://www.paypal.me/ShawnteOrion
or Venmo https://venmo.com/ShawnteOrion 

Secret Low-Key Virtual Book Launch for GRAVITY & SPECTACLE

Our book launch was canceled, so I'll just make a quiet little blogpost announcement:

It began with an impulse purchase of an art mask sculpture from artist JJ Horner's yard sale, before going through five or six years of collaboration work with photographer Jia Oak Baker. Now Gravity & Spectacle has been published as a gorgeously square book of poems and photographs by Tolsun Books.

This project was supposed to come out about two years ago, but we kept pushing back the deadline because it just wasn't good enough. We finally got to a point where we were proud enough to publish it right when the pandemic hit.

"Jia Oak Baker's stunning photographs of a discarded punk-rock-skateboard-video-prop-mask, and Shawnte Orion's sardonic, pop culture-infused poetry make the strange world of Gravity & Spectacle. It is a slanted ode to Phoenix and its surrounding deserts, both gorgeous and absurd, stoic and wry, gravitational and spectacular, a "love letter to the fireplace" of a hometown seen through the lens and the pens of two of its inhabitants."

We had to upgrade and pay extra for high quality gloss pages so they could handle all the photographs. We were still nervous and hoping everything would look right, because we couldn't order a preview copy first... but the Tolsun team (special thanks to David Pischke) did an amazing job with the layout and design. Jia and I were so excited to see that this book came out better than we could have imagined. We can't wait to bring it to readings in some of our favorite cities whenever we are allowed.

But in the meantime, you can order a copy from Tolsun Books, Small Press Distribution, and even Amazon.

Or if you'd like to get a signed copy from me, just send $20 (free shipping)
through PayPal https://www.paypal.me/ShawnteOrion
or Venmo https://venmo.com/ShawnteOrion

I'll make more posts about the background (including the J.J. Horner art), blurbs (infinite thanks to Rosemarie Dombrowski, Sean Bonnette, and Matt Hart), and sidestories of the book in the coming days.

If you need a sneak peek, take a look at these sample poems and photographs that were showcased by A Dozen Nothing in February at https://adozennothing.com/2020/02/01/shawnte-orion-jia-oak-baker-february-2020/

KGB Bar anthology and local readings

Years ago, I stumbled onto an anthology called The KGB Bar Book Of Poems in a used bookstore. Being on the other side of the country from New York, I did not know that David Lehman and Star Black ran a weekly poetry series at the KGB Bar in the East Village. This book collects poems from some of the poets who read there during its first three years, including Charles Simic, Thomas Lux, Yusef Komunyakaa, Denise Duhamel, Marie Howe, Hal Sirowitz, John Ashbery, Robert Bly and plenty of other favorites so it's an impressive anthology of poetry on its own.

But along with a poem, it also includes anecdotes from those poets on the most memorable thing ever to happen to them at a poetry reading. This is what I love the best about this book. These tales and footnotes are hilarious, sad, sometimes even frightening and they echo in the back of my mind whenever I prepare for one of my own readings.

Erin Belieu was half way through her reading at an all-boys prep-school, when her wraparound skirt announced that it wasn't tied well enough, by dropping to the floor.

Denise Duhamel was threatened in the alley after judging a poetry slam at the Nuyorican Cafe.

But a common theme is showing up for a readings that are not well attended. Thomas Lux remembers entering an amphitheater (with several hundred seats) to find exactly ONE person in the audience. Additionally, that lone audience member was unconscious from a drug overdose. They called and waited for an ambulance to come get him and then went back home.


I also have a lot of empathy for these stories, since I have been hosting a monthly reading series for the past five years. We've had some rough and/or tragic situations here and there, but we are incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful audience that is talented and dependable.

We always begin with an open mic round. That's David Chorlton at the podium that co-host Bill Campana has dubbed "The Writer's Block."

Here are both of my distinguished co-hosts, Jack Evans and Bill Campana.

Our readings take place on 2nd Fridays
at {9} The Gallery in downtown Phoenix, if you're ever in the neighborhood.
1229 Grand Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85007

open mic starts at 7pm

Belated Trick-or-Treat writing exercise (pumpkin spice not included)

Since the Pumpkin Spice flavored dust is settling from Halloween, it seems fitting that a few more of my "costume poems" have found literary homes recently.
It was a poem cycle that I wrote for a performance where I basically went trick-or-treating as some of my favorite Phoenix poets.

Up The River, a brand new journal from the Albany Poets, has three poems available HERE, including my poems for Barry Graham and Rosemarie Dombrowski.
(by the way- this was a promising debut issue, so I hope Up The River continues to do exciting things)

Mouse Tales Press also published my Jack Evans poem in this recent issue. Jack is one of my favorite humans. I've been co-hosting a monthly poetry series with him for the past five years and I wish everyone knew him as much as I do.

Then Mouse Tales Press published my Aaron Johnson poem in this current issue.
 (by the way- MTP editor Linda G. Hatton takes GREAT care of your work before publishing it, so go ahead and send her some good stuff)

I was fortunate to absorb the influence of friends like Rosemarie, Barry, and Aaron. Although they are all very different from each other, we've been involved in some memorable events together over the years. Laundromat readings, street festivals, colleges, etc.


So it's a great writing exercise to explore.
Try to envision the world from another poet's perspective.
You will end up writing things that you weren't on track to discover and it will stretch the boundaries of your own obsessions and style. I think of it as a meta-persona poem.