Are you alive in America? You think so? How can you tell? Now there is a way to tell. dave boles has outlined a common vision for all of us. If you can listen, this is the story of what’s it is really like to be alive in America. This is a carefully crafted and extremely well-written look at how we are today and how we got here. This book is a bright light on dark corners. A clear voice reaching out to each of us. A testament to a belief in kindness and a studied understanding of who and how we have become what we are. This is a serious book, peppered with good humor and an open heart to help explain the unexplainable, i.e. what it is really like to be Alive in America. Read this book.

D.R. Wagner

a 35 year selected collection of "okie surrealist" poems, including 5 typewriter poems and signature illuminated monkey iconography by alter ego bodhi presents a spectrum of twists and turns bound to confound many minds into altered realms.

two typewriter poems as bookends set the tone from gallows humor to the demand to remain independent from group thought. his poem "Civilized" opens with "the great lie / we all live with / is that we are civilized" followed by his typewriter poem "A Classic Representation Of The Eternal Struggle Between Good And Evil……………" when writing "Waiting For The Resurrection of Civility," he, like kenneth patchen, takes no prisoners. this is not for the faint hearted or politically correct.

poignant moments are found in "The Art Of Rolling A One Paper Joint," "Memorial Day, 2011," and "Halcyon Days" for the disenfranchised. and, among the timeless poems are "Covenant," "It’s A Messy Business," "Shambhala," and "The Codex Of The Illuminated Monkey," in which we read "They gave one monkey / the gift of illumination, / the power to see beyond/ the petty machinations / of man.

such is, the intention of this devotee of the illuminated monkey accompanied by his side kick the gringo shaman hidden behind and in between the lines.

karl kempton