A Popular Place To Explode is the second full-length collection by Eric Paul, author of I Offered Myself As The Sea and lyricist/vocalist for the revered bands Arab On Radar, The Chinese Stars, and Doomsday Student. This long-awaited follow-up of 50 poems will be released on September 3rd by Heartworm Press. First edition of 500 copies.
We asked Eric what the reader should expect to find in A Popular Place To Explode. His response:
For me, the collection examines failure in a failing place. The poems are inspired by the psychology of every broken and forgotten neighborhood I grew up in and continue to live in as an adulthood. These neighborhoods breed a certain type of crazy. With A Popular Place To Explode I tried to channel this very odd, yet specific state of mind. I wanted to unearth the humor, the anxiety, the anger, the sadness, and occasional beauty of it all.
Pre-order your copy now HERE.
Read ‘The Losers’, an unreleased selection from A Popular Place To Explode.
The Losers
My high school mascot used to be a falcon named Lucky. However, early in my sophomore year the principal decided to change mascots. He was convinced that Lucky was to blame for our sports teams’ long losing streak. So he donated the falcon to the local zoo and adopted a goat to be the new mascot. He named the goat Faith. Suddenly, with Faith in attendance, our sports teams began to win every game. For two years, both the basketball and football teams were state champions. Congratulatory signs hung all over town. Parades were held and twice opposing teams were caught trying to steal our goat. This all changed in the spring of my senior year—coincidentally, the first week of baseball season. The goat got into an open trash bag in the cafeteria, ate rotten meat and died. An impromptu funeral was held and Faith was buried in the visiting team’s end zone. The following week our baseball team suffered its first lost of the season. Our football team was destroyed by forty-nine points. The star of our track team broke her leg in practice. The principal, desperate not to return to the school’s losing ways, dug up Faith, glued her back together, and attached her to a furniture dolly which had been spray painted the school colors. One morning he held an assembly in the auditorium to reveal our new mascot. A spotlight shined down on the goat while everyone applauded and the principal announced into a microphone, blaring that he was going wheel the reconstructed goat to the field or court for every game. We cheered wildly. Our school spirit had never been stronger.
Heartworm #63
