Jim McGarrah, author of OFF TRACK and MISDEMEANOR OUTLAW is very pleased to announce that Lamar University Press will be doing a 20-year retrospective of his work this summer entitled "A Balancing Act, Selected and New Poems 1998-2018." There's a wide spectrum of subject matter and styles to make even the most critical of you happy. Here's a sample.
National Anthem
David writes the President once a month
ever since he walked, stoned outta his gourd, off Khe Sahn.
Swear-to-God, once every month, no matter who’s President.
He hopes someone in the White House might remember
what could have been had we not stumbled on our own clichés,
trading handmade tie-dyes for MTV stock, swapping
vinyl records & beer bottles that pry open, for IPods, Blue Rays,
anthrax in the mail & malt beverages flavored with exotic fruits.
He chooses to ignore why we deal conscience,
like scrap metal, for corporate logos and Kalashnikov’s.
Instead, David asks the President to replace
our Star-Spangled Banner with “Sugar Magnolia” and have
a marble statue of Jerry Garcia sculpted for the Rose Garden,
painted black and back-lit with a neon bulb flashing
—Gratefully Dead—twenty-four hours a day.
what could have been had we not stumbled on our own clichés,
trading handmade tie-dyes for MTV stock, swapping
vinyl records & beer bottles that pry open, for IPods, Blue Rays,
anthrax in the mail & malt beverages flavored with exotic fruits.
He chooses to ignore why we deal conscience,
like scrap metal, for corporate logos and Kalashnikov’s.
Instead, David asks the President to replace
our Star-Spangled Banner with “Sugar Magnolia” and have
a marble statue of Jerry Garcia sculpted for the Rose Garden,
painted black and back-lit with a neon bulb flashing
—Gratefully Dead—twenty-four hours a day.
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