I Have a Poem About That - by Christine Howey (CC#121)

We at Crisis Chronicles Press are ecstatic to announce the publication of our first title of 2023, I Have a Poem About That by the amazing Christine Howey. It's always a joy and privilege to work with her.

I Have a Poem About That is 36 pp, 6 x 9", perfect bound, with cover art by Jessie Herzfeld. ISBN 979-8-88596-993-2. Available for $10 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

Christine Howey’s newest book, I Have a Poem About That, contains what is undoubtedly some of her best work. As you read these poems, you are introduced to Howey’s unique takes on such diverse topics as jazz, gender, Viet Nam, the questioning of authority, and the afterlife. In the poem “My Words Are Too Big Today,” she reveals The sun is hanging in the / threadbare blue sky like a broken button. In “When We Die We Become Birds,” she considers Just as God’s gift to us, before death, / is the vodka martini, his postmortem gift / is to turn us into birds. While some of the pieces quietly reflect and fondly reminisce, most of them grab you by the shirt collar and jerk you close enough to feel the spit.
    —Dianne Borsenik, author of Raga for What Comes Next, publisher at NightBallet Press

This volume features 23 poems, including "When We Die We Become Birds," "My Skiff," "Camus at Camp," "A Meeting of Suburban Deer," "Eternity on Elm Street," "Inside Out," "Invert at the Gem Saloon, Deadwood, South Dakota, 1876," "My Name Is John Doe," "Mount Everest," "Paul Desmond's Slot Machine," "Ten Ill-Conceived Kitchen Gadgets," "Maybe I Should Have Told Different Lies," "After I'm Gone," "Blueberries, Summer, 1944," "The Last One," "The Road Oft Taken," "Sign of the Cross," "A Bubble-Off Romance," "The Birds and the Bees," "The History of Television," "The Universal Usage Guide," "An Ode to Richard Howie," and "My Words Are Too Big Today."

 

Christine Howey is a performance poet and former executive director of Literary Cleveland. Her one-person play of poetry about her transgender journey, Exact Change, premiered at Cleveland Public Theatre and was selected by the New York International Fringe Festival. A film version of the play was an official selection of the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival. 

Christine has also been an award-winning theater critic in Cleveland for 25 years, currently with Cleveland Scene. She was named Transgender Leader of the Year in Northeast Ohio and received the Torch Award from the Human Rights Campaign for leadership on transgender issues.