Eliot Katz

The poems of WORKS traverse a course from the swamps of Shot’s home state of New Jersey to the endless possibilities of the open road, with rest stops along the way to highlight striking moments encountered during his 30 plus year career as a New York City public high school teacher, and to report on the twilight years of the Beat Generation. His engaging poetry is raw, from the gut, deceptively rich and humane in the face of this increasingly post-humanistic world.

Mixing humor and imagination, visions of a healthy future and the windstorm realities of today, this collection of poems by Eliot Katz and artwork by William T. Ayton deals with themes of love, war, politics, ecology, and daily life. "I love these poems, which are full of passion and thought. Eliot Katz is among a handful of contemporary American poets whose work speaks to me."--Howard Zinn "Eliot is right up there carrying the torch for Whitman and Ginsberg, keeping their vision alive and well... A must-read for anyone who believes poetry can still celebrate life."--Alicia Ostriker "William Ayton has mastered the art of drawing with ink and brush. Like the words of Eliot Katz, his brush marks the page with deliberate force. A broken eggshell, weapons and dreams, a stroke that cannot be taken back." --Tim Slowinski

Throughout the last year and a half of his life, Allen Ginsberg phoned many of his poet friends to ask if they had any social verses opposing America's rightwing drift or otherwise speaking their current political minds. This volume presents the perceptive and visionary poems that Ginsberg collected (with selections based on his notes), and also includes writings from contributors to "Planet News," an historic tribute to Allen Ginsberg that was held at New York City's St. John the Divine Cathedral in May 1998.

* Endorsement by Allen Ginsberg. * Poem/interview with author's mother, a Holocaust survivor. * Formerly taught at Rutgers University