Great Balls Of Doubt

(Paperback)

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A collection of recent work by post-Beat poet Mark Terrill. Some of these poems first appeared in limited-edition chapbooks or in the numerous journals and magazines to which he is a frequent contributor; others are published here for the first time. Lavishly illustrated with 25 drawings by Jon Langford, and garnished with praise from such luminaries as Anne Waldman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Joanne Kyger, Great Balls of Doubt delivers images and sentiments ranging from the real to the surreal to the elegiac, with no shortage of humour along the way.

Reviews

"An ally of the Zen wing of the New American Poetry of observation & witness, Mark Terrill's poems receive inspiration from his expansive 'radar dish of conscious-ness.' A solid collection from a vigilant compaero of the real work."--Anne Waldman
"It is sweetly familiar to move thru the movement of Mark Terrill's lines--his way, his path, his punch lines--the details of his physical life . . . But Great Balls of Doubt is more than his very sure tour of words on the page--he gives a dimension of culture and living in the moment that is very reassuring."--Joanne Kyger
"Mark Terrill, the true poet and 'forlorn observer' of the world he sees as essentially forlorn, if not absurd, if not entirely hopeless. But his poetry is far from hopeless. It is a hard light to alleviate the situation of the world as he sees it."--Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Author Bio

MARK TERRILL is a native Californian and former merchant seaman. He has lived in Germany since 1984, working by turns as a shipyard welder, a cook, for the post office, and as road manager for rock bands, all the while publishing numerous collections of poetry and prose, such as "Bread & Fish" (The Figures, 2002) and "Diamonds & Sapience" (Dark Style, 2017). His work has appeared in print and online in more than a thousand journals and anthologies, including City Lights Review, Bombay Gin, Empty Mirror, Jacket, Diagram, Rattle, RHINO, and Talisman, and been translated into French, German, and Portuguese. Terrill is also the English translator of Rolf Dieter Brinkmann ("An Unchanging Blue: Selected Poems 1962-75", Parlor Press, 2011).

JON LANGFORD is a musician and visual artist who lives in Chicago. Born in Newport, Wales, he first came to prominence with art/punk music collective the Mekons, who met at Leeds University in 1976 and have been performing together ever since; their most recent album is "Deserted" (2019). He has also released many recordings as a solo artist and with other bands (the Three Johns, the Waco Brothers, Four Lost Souls, and more). Langford's art has been collected in two books, "Nashville Radio" (2006) and "Skull Orchard Revisited" (2010). In 2015 he was the artist in residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame, which commissioned him to paint a series of portraits for its exhibition "Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City." He is represented by Yard Dog Gallery in Austin, Texas.