Between Eden and the Open Road

This collection of flash fiction and poetry roams streets and neighborhoods, bars and bedrooms, presenting a varied cast of characters. From a svelte blonde from Louisville, Ky., who %E2%80%9Cconfessed to having a/ pool-hall education%E2%80%9D to a man who%E2%80%99s %E2%80%9Cthe Monday morning of human beings,%E2%80%9D every character on these pages is drawn in exacting%E2%80%94and quirky%E2%80%94details. Throughout, the author provides an intimate look at his characters, all the while keeping them distant and mysterious. These are people observed, and to hear them speak is to eavesdrop on the fantastical mixed with the everyday. Conversations fill the pages. While most of the pieces, such as %E2%80%9Cthe old morality was still hanging around,%E2%80%9D rejoice in hard-edged women like Hannah Morgenstern, who %E2%80%9Cseduced the wind/with her hair and/ colored herself a blue funk,%E2%80%9D men do make their way into these poems, too. Readers with a beat sensibility and a desire to wander the crowded roads and alleyways of people%E2%80%99s minds will find much to enjoy here.