Epic Rites Press Release: DOING CARTWHEELS ON DOOMSDAY AFTERNOON!

Todd Moore, in his review of DOING CARTWHEELS ON DOOMSDAY AFTERNOON, writes that “Yamrus’ doomsday isn’t the big one with all the fires and the quakes and the tsunamis and the wind.  Instead, his doomsday is all about the little apocalypses of life.  The day to day failures that mark us as mortal.”  Rob Plath, in the introduction to DOOMSDAY, writes that “one recurrent subject in John's poems, subtle or obvious, is endurance.”   Both Moore and Plath hit the nail squarely upon its head.  DOOMSDAY is as much about the day to day turmoil that breaks us down, as it is about the human spirit to endure.  The pairing of “cartwheels” with “doomsday” is pure Yamrus gold, a testament to the abundance of laughter in which John approaches his own “little apocalypses of life.”

i’ve got

this hair
on my nose,

near
the tip,

and
no matter
how often

i
cut it,

or
pluck it,

it keeps
coming back.

now,
that’s just

damned
admirable…

don’t you think?

“Yamrus is a master of the minimalist poem and the understated wise crack.   His line which is also his sentence is pared to the bone.  And, the timing and the voice are absolutely natural and perfect.  Nobody does it better.” – Todd Moore, author of DEAD RECKONING

my car battery died and

i was
waiting for
Triple A.

i thought
i’d kill some time
by writing a bit.

nothing came,
so, i
gave it up,
did the dishes,
played with
the dog and
waited,

thinking
it’s just like life,
isn’t it?

you do your
thing,

then
sit around
waiting
for the truck
to take you
away.

"John Yamrus is a remarkable poet, who uses a perfect choice of form to produce poems in the simplest language that run deep. A master of using the ordinary in an extraordinary way." - Milner Place

Bukowski started his novel

Post Office
with the line:

“It began
as a mistake.”

most things
(good and bad)
start that way.

like
this poem,
which had me
thinking
about
all the crap i write every night,

most of it’s
not very good,
but that’s the way it is.

that’s the way
life is.

you get up,
go to work,
come home
and go to sleep.

and
in between
you try
desperately
to hold onto the fire.

"John Yamrus remains one of my favorite authors because I can sit down and read one of his books start to finish - and along the way, laugh at his jokes, marvel at his wit, and every now and then a golden brick of enlightenment drops on my head." - Wolfgang Carstens, author of CRUDELY MISTAKEN FOR LIFE

he’s in his 60’s

in a
wheelchair.

his wife
cuts the grass,
drives the car,
feeds him,
cleans him and
everything else.

sometimes
the gods are good to you…

sometimes
they’re not.

you just never know…

and so
you play the hand
you’re dealt,

whether it’s
a wheelchair
or a pot of
gold.
and if you’re lucky
you end up
twisted and
bent,

with a damn
fine woman
who fights back
the blood-curdling screams
and just

endures.

John Yamrus' DOING CARTWHEELS ON DOOMSDAY AFTERNOON is available through Small Press Distribution at www.spdbooks.org, as well as through the Epic Rites bookstore at www.epicrites.org.
 
About the Author

Wolfgang Carstens lives in Alberta, Canada with his wife, five children, two cats and a dog. His poetry and prose are printed upon the backs of unpaid bills.