{"product_id":"9781929878505","title":"Whispering In A Mad Dog's Ear","description":"Rick Smith's two previous books dealt with the diminutive Wren...wren as metaphor, wren as symbol for our own frailties and neuroses. Wren was a delicate bird that must be handled with care. \u003cp\u003eBut now, it's a new game and Smith comes out swinging! The gloves are off and he takes on the human condition in a \"no-holds-barred\" re-match that has been years in the making. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \"Whispering in a Mad Dog's Ear\", Smith shows that he isn't just a one trick pony. He writes about things that are near and dear, about harmonica players and having the blues, about drug addiction, about old lovers and adventures, about psych wards, about madness and redemption, about love and loss; in short, he writes eloquently about the wonders and horrors of life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTake for example, the poem entitled SWANS:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSure, there are swans,\u003cbr\u003esilver swans, coupling swans,\u003cbr\u003eswans so ominous they remind us of something pre-natal when we were tiny and subject to the counter-clockwise thrill of conception and likewise to the troubling possibilities of gravity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSwans on Silver Lake near where a body was found floating,\u003cbr\u003ea hollow swan on our bureau,\u003cbr\u003eonce filled with cuff links, rings and small change.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA pond near the house on the cape where one swan bedazzles herself in early Spring three years running.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe watch from distance,\u003cbr\u003ecounting the times reflection has failed us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is a haunting beauty here, a suggestibility that doesn't need to go into detail because we already know instinctively what's going on. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSuch is the poetry of Rick Smith.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lummox Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47040253624560,"sku":"9781929878505","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781929878505_p0.jpg?v=1763637926","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781929878505","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}