The Other Guy - by John Thomas Allen (CC#31)

cover photo by Steven B Smith

Crisis Chronicles Press is overjoyed to announce the release of The Other Guy, a new poetry chapbook by John Thomas Allen. Published 15 August 2012, The Other Guy is 16 pages, lovingly hand assembled and saddle staple bound using white cover stock, black card stock endpapers and white paper. 8.5 x 5.5", inkjet printed. Approximately 120 copies in print. Available for $6 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

According to David Shapiro: "Freud said to the young surrealists to beware of unconscious imagery, and Meyer Schapiro said even dreams were social. John reminds me of Lamantia, Vigo, Bolano—raw and angry but with a clear day under his baseball cap. Like the Berrigan brothers, he seems to be writing a last protesting book, with the harp of Harpo and instead of handcuffs from a flic who appears to look like a hamburger…The soul is conscious in this new voice, and John wears a rosary around his neck. Real as Albany, his infra-surrealism is growing and growling. Good that he's so disappointed; he occupies a special place in Poetry Park."

According to Charles Bane, Jr.: "The work of John Allen is profoundly moored; it is exploratory, shaded and searching. Read his work, and follow his quest."

According to Rich Follett: "John Thomas Allen's surreal images strung together like pearls; seemingly random events and characters juxtaposed in ways that expose mind-expanding meanings; the pungent, unblinking eye of the camera obscura; the unexpected voice of transients, ne'er do wells and those forgotten by fortune; these flavors and many more await readers of John Thomas Allen's dreamlike Humanist poetry and prose. There is a certain light to these visions — a three-in-the-morning beam of truth that exposes both deep flaws and great beauty in every subject, every character. John Thomas Allen offers us a mirror; — who among us can resist looking? What we see in the process is the bones of our collective socio-intellectual hypocrisy. The result is a simultaneously humbling and edifying reading experience: our flaws are laid bare but we realize in the blush of our shame that we still have an ineluctable beauty if only we are willing to cultivate it. John Thomas Allen's world has existed always, around us, among us and within us; in coming to terms with his humbling and uplifting indictments, we can only shake our heads and wonder how it is that we have missed so much for so long. Read, and walk with him."

Click here to see several reviews of The Other Guy at Amazon.
Click here to see ratings and reviews of The Other Guy at Goodreads.

Sample poems:

Click here to read "Smokebreak" from The Other Guy in the Crisis Chronicles cyber litmag.
Click here to read "An Elegy for One Living and Dead" from the book in the Crisis Chronicles.


Poet's bio (from the chapbook):

John Thomas Allen is a 29 year old poet who lives in Albany NY, for the moment. His work has appeared over 40 journals and his chief ambition is to write a real poem one of these days!