NEW RELEASE:
RESCUE THE GOOD STUFF
 Published by Zarigueya Press in October, 2012, Louisa Loveridge Gallas’s new collection of poems, Rescue the Good Stuff, brings us young Madeleine Kidd, the smart, spunky only child of a con-man father and a mother longing for a better life. ‘Maddie’s journey is a compelling mix of enchantment and betrayal, secrets and discovery. Often alone, she chooses imagination, the power of words and her unique pal, Shiny, for her closest companions. In this luminous sequence of story-like poems, the language is fresh, double-edged, available yet evocative, true to a young narrator’s voice. As Maddie testifies: “Words are the coolest!”
On Thursday, November at 3:00 p.m., Louisa Loveridge Gallas will present a reading from Rescue the Good Stuff, followed by a reception and book signing at Boswell’s Books, 2559 North Downer Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53211. This event is free and open to the public.
|
"Louisa Loveridge Gallas has written a tour de force that grabs you and will not let go. In a lively, inviting voice, Maddie Kidd reveals the multi-layered consciousness of a child seeking truth, suppressing troubles and having fun, all at the same time. Her blind confidante, Shiny, brings a nuanced yet universal touch to Maddie’s unruly world." Shirley M. C. Johnson, Ph.D., Fulbright Professor of English
"Maddie Kidd captures your heart with her secrets and young poet soul. This novel-like sequence of epiphanies in a girl’s voice is unique; there is nothing like it in American Poetry." Antler. Winner, Walt Whitman Award
"Louisa Loveridge Gallas takes us into the muddled existential waters of childhood, narrated by the precociously wry Madeleine Kidd. Her father is a figment of his own imagination; ‘Maddie’ and her mother are flotsam and jetsam tossed in his fantasies. With no reliable witness, Maddie negotiates her reality, innocent yet wary, a journey both everyday and underground. Though separated from her by my race and gender, as a Black person, I identify with Maddie’s double consciouness: how to become oneself while being the object of others’ power, unconsciousness and distorted  expectations."
Dr. Kenneth Addison, Professor Emeritus, North Eastern University, Chicago, Illinois
"Young Maddie Kidd lives in a world where teachers humiliate students, where the repo man is a familiar sight, where flawed yet loving parents damage their children despite good intentions, and where children learn what they need to survive. The line between lies and stories shifts and blurs, as do the lines between poetry and prose, delusion and reality, unfolding Maddie’s simultaneously shiny and shabby life." Wendy Vardaman, Co-editor, Verse Wisconsin
Cover art is by Steve Replogle and design by Mary Lou Lamonda.
|
