Uncomfortable Clowns ms #77 by James Hart III

These poems by James Hart, III careen in the mind as they do down the page with an eagerness, to apprehend every given vicissitude of moment that comes their way. The tensions one finds, throughout the sequence, reflect the ever-fraught interface of inward and out, self and other, word and world. In this theatre of operations, Hart takes big chances and, more often than not, wins the day. The reward is the readers' amazement and release.

— Bill Berkson

James Hart touches all the bases and gets you home safe by the final line.

—Ken Mikoloski

If this is the clown’s way, as he seems to name it, it is a reminder too of the range of sightings & sayings that the poet’s work makes possible, when the poet, serious & dubious by turns, gives himself to a recording of what his mind & voice pursue & aim to capture. Hart comes into his own here & reminds us again that the clown, as an iconic figure, is with the shaman & the trickster one of the true technicians of the sacred, whom it is our right & privilege, even in a secular world & time, to emulate & bring to life, no matter where it leads us. For this I want to celebrate & thank him, to welcome him into a world where poetry, if it makes nothing happen, as the man said, leads us into another world where everything is possible & remains so if we have the pluck to keep it going.

—Jerome Rothenberg

James Hart III lives in south-west Detroit, and currently has published two other ms. the wathchablr book, a book of experimental prose (weightless language press) (2003), and white holes ( Marick 2006). A chap-book high-coup (Slack-Buddha, 2010). Most recently a collaboration with Emily Brent smoke in the drawer/one with seed, (Papa-Waltz press, 2012) His work has appeared in The Past Tents Press on-line anthology, Door jamb Press: Dispatch issues 6 & 7, The Café Review, 6x6 #23 Ugly Duckling Presse (amongst others). An experimental review of Bill Berkson’s Portrait & Dream, appears at jacket2.org. A writing of complete anagram fragment, with a theoretical preface, appears at OutofNothing.org. He is the editor and director of white print inc, a new avant-garde Detroit press dedicated to emerging writers as well as the poetic history of the Cass Corridor, (a Detroit neighborhood which became associated with a group of artists), and beyond (toward our unnamed genre). He is curator of the Woodward-Line reading series (thewoodwardline @facebook , a nationally visible venue in its 11th year. In 2001 he corresponded with Jacques Derrida, whom expressed great interest in his work.

Book Information:

· Paperback: 82 pages
· Binding: Perfect-Bound
· Publisher: BlazeVOX [books]
· ISBN: 978-1-60964-108-5