Tom Smith’s “Poet Steals Headlines” gets reviewed by Kirkus

Love poetry and playful verses but would want to read subjects other than love and nature? Then pick up “Poet Steals Headlines: Sentenced to Life” (ReadersMagnet; 2018) by Tom Smith.
 
“The subjects of all the poems in this collection are derived from a variety of tabloids and a few more respectable rags,” said the author in the acknowledgments of his poetry book. “The titles are almost always the headlines that accompanied the original stories.”
 
“Poet Steals Headlines” contains 41 poems, inspired by headlines from National Enquirer, Weekly World News, The Sun (United Kingdom), New York Daily News, New York Times, and Associated Press, among others. Most poems abound with unrestrained humor and occasional satire but also provides readers with amusement and some moments for reflection and recall about the news stories that inspire those poems. Titles include “Flying Nun Vanishes Over Bermuda Triangle”, “Cast Your Net Far and Wide this Week”, “Some Twins Are Accident Prone on Saturday”, “Michael Jackson to Become a Priest”, and “Doctors Perform Tongue Transplant”.
 
Kirkus Reviews reviewed “Poet Steals Headlines” and took notice of the author’s “occasional flashes of descriptive brilliance” but frowned on his “excessive use of expletives and gratuitous violence”, as in the poem “Schoolkids Scoffed at Nerdy Steven”.
 
“Overall, the author’s subjects are colorful, but the poetry’s raison d’être seems to be pure shock and awe, not artistry or emotional depth. Then again, the author does warn readers early on that he’s ‘ready to chew that pulp and poop / poems that tread the water like a rush of fools.’”
 
Pick a copy of Tom Smith’s “Poet Steals Headlines: Sentenced to Life.” Order through Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Poet-Steals-Headlines-Sentence-Life/dp/1948864673) and Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/poet-steals-headlines-tom-smith/1129486682).
 
 
Poet Steals Headlines: Sentenced to Life
Written by Tom Smith
Published by ReadersMagnet LLC
Published date: September 6, 2018
Paperback price: $7.10
 
About the Author
 
Professor emeritus Tom Smith taught literature and writing at Vermont’s Castleton University until retiring in 1995. He and his wife Virginia continue to dwell in Vermont where they enjoy frequent visits from their sons and grandchildren. Tom has been publishing poems since 1959 in many literary magazines as well as book-length collections.

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