Search

CL Bledsoe's collection shows us a boy's perspective on a dying farm, his dying mother, and by extraction, a dying way of life. Bledsoe paints an unsparing picture of a bleak time, but manages to leave the reader with an inexplicable hope. He tells a tale in poetry about a seismic shift in the American landscape, replete with the damage done to those on the fault lines.

"The sunflower farm was the most boring place on earth. Until weird things started happening..." What's the most boring place in the world? The farm. After his mother's death, Sol is sent to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle, but with no cell service and only an old dinosaur of a computer, Sol's not sure how he's going to survive. But his boredom is interrupted by strange sounds at night, the discovery of a mysterious cave, and stuff that starts to sound an awful lot like a bedtime story his mother used to tell him when he was small...that just might be true...

In his twelfth poetry collection, CL Bledsoe uses absurdity to explore the landscape of his own grief and to come to terms with the question of how to live in the world as a moral being. At times funny, at times tragic, Bledsoe's poems explore existential questions with the wit he's become known for.

A book of poems by CL Bledsoe and Michael Gushue. Enter at your own risk, exit by your own volition. Contents may have settled during shipping and may secrete from the covers. Handle with protective gloves. The use of hazmat gear is not required but certainly would bring a smile to the authors' faces.

C.L. Bledsoe's 'Naming the Animals' is a collection of fifteen stories about choices: people in bad situations choosing to do good, people choosing to overcome preconceptions, people making peace with a world they feel at odds with. In "Cabin by a Lake," a man tries to find joy in his life and marriage while trying to advance his career after the death of a friend. In "the Old Man," a couple tries to rekindle their love after a devastating brush with illness. In "Crowley's Ridge," a mother tries to balance her jealousy of an always popular and successful cousin with her hopes for her own son. "Leaving the Garden," which was selected as a Notable Story of 2008 by Story South's Million Writers' Award, shows a couple leaving their first house under less than favorable conditions. In the vein of the fiction of Raymond Carver and Amy Hempel with a Southern flair, Bledsoe crafts poignant situations with the eye of a poet. These stories are about the day-to-day struggles of working class people making the hard choices in life: fast-food workers, grocery store managers, teachers, and mechanics trying to do what needs to be done, even if it isn't what they want to do. These are people who want what they cannot have, but don't know what they need, characters who are trying to find what is truly of value in a world that values next to nothing.

Dog-Adoption bureaucrats, psychotic deer, lonely magical creatures who just want to hang out and maybe eat your kids; the stories of CL Bledsoe are often strange and always entertaining. Whether they're summoning a demon to get out of having to go to work or trying to escape from Santa's labor camp, the characters in Bledsoe's stories weirdly relatable while living in unfamiliar worlds. These stories span Bledsoe's career from the beginning up until about 2:30 p.m., last Tuesday.

King of Loneliness presents innovative and accessible poems about a 21st century America caught between irony and anxiety. In his fifth book of poetry, Bledsoe uses humor and an honest eye to tour a republic whose citizens have been uprooted by media saturation, political absurdity, and personal uncertainty.

In his 14th poetry collection, Bledsoe explores the emotional impact of the pandemic using a sardonic sense of humor contrasted with sincere observations, creating an intense emotional experience. His poems range from personal anecdotes about his childhood and adult life, to surreal portraits that explore significant themes of alienation and love. Similar in scope to The Bottle Episode, B Sides and Rarities is a moving commentary on the state of America today.

In their second collaborative poetry collection, Michael Gushue and CL Bledsoe bring us suspect tales and untethered allegories from the life of Judy, a modern day demigoddess who wants to f*ck sh*t up while having a sensible yet tasty breakfast. From tragic beginnings to tragic 80s hair, she searches for love and peace of mind in a world she fears is increasingly beyond saving. But it's the one with the best snacks and--every once in a while--just desserts.

ÒC.L. BledsoeÕs savage, hallucinatory, and ironic third chapbook Ñ Leap Year by Red Ceilings Press Ñ opens a window into the mind of the insane. Taken as a whole, which is clearly the intent Ð each of the 29 poems is titled with the date, as if the book is a journal written in February of a leap year ÂÐ the book reveals day-to-day life in a mental institution, blending black humor with the isolation and humiliation of an imaginative, wry speaker. Leap Year is an ambitious book, yet Bledsoe pulls it off with a masterful performance. ItÕs utterly unforgettable.: -Elizabeth Swann, Prick of the Spindle