By Doug Holder

Teaching Metaphors. Nathan Graziano. ( sunnyoutside PO BOX 441429 Somerville, Mass. 02144) http://www.sunnyoutside.com

Sunnyoutside, a creative and prolific small press based in Somerville, has released a new book by poet Nate Graziano. Graziano is a mainstay of their list and for good reason. His work has the flashes of insight, irony, and humor as well as accessibility that makes for an engaging read. Graziano has been a high school English teacher since 1997 and has penned a book of poetry about his experiences. 

‚ÄúTeaching metaphors’ has literally taken me 10 years to write. It is a mosaic of the students and colleagues I‚Äôve worked with in the various schools I taught," Graziano writes. "These poems are not based solely on any individuals, rather they‚Äôre imaginative amalgams. These poems are also not a picturesque depiction of the world of education, but I hope they‚Äôre honest‚Äîgood and bad.‚Äù

  The book is divided into two sections: the ‚ÄúStudent Body‚Äù and ‚ÄúThe Faculty.‚Äù I found ‚ÄúThe Faculty‚Äù section the most compelling. Here Graziano captures the eccentrics and the burnouts that we find in any faculty. In the poem ‚ÄúBurnout‚Äù, a gone-to-seed teacher brutalizes his students with his timeworn filmstrips and sepia-tinged pop quizzes that he has given to generations of students.

“The students’ heads drop to the desks
like metal balls down greased chutes,
etherized by The Burnout’s filmstrip
and the sustained beeps between frames.

A sedated voice from a scratchy recording
talks of Nero’s orders for matricide,
a question on the multiple-choice pop quiz
The Burnout will give following the filmstrip.
It’s the same quiz the students’ parents
took twenty years ago when they slept
through Western History with The Burnout,
the man rumored to keep a silver flask
beside the fiddle in his desk drawer.

And in “The Devastation of Donuts” Graziano views the cycles of the faculty of the school through donuts and his “glazed” and jaded eyes:

“On Fridays The Administration springs
for coffee and donuts in the Teacher’s Lounge
Most of the Faculty attempts to attend
despite the fact that most of our bodies
have been devastated by donuts
The younger faculty slim and wrinkle-free,
and still brimming with college theory,
chocolate-gazed, unfazed
It wasn’t long ago I stood in fresh shoes
In those days, I was more forgiving of my frame
before the donuts took hold,
latched to my bones and refused to let go.”

This collection is highly recommended.

Ibbetson Street Press is pleased to announce the 2nd annual Ibbetson Street Poetry Award Contest. The winner of the contest must be a Massachusetts resident, will receive a $100 cash award, a framed certificate, publication in the literary journal Ibbetson Street and will be featured in "The Lyrical Somerville," The Somerville  News weekly poetry column.

To enter send, three to five poems, any genre or length, to :Doug Holder at 25 School St., Somerville, Mass. 02143.

Entry fee is $10. Cash or check only. Make payable to Ibbetson Street Press or Doug Holder. The deadline is Sept. 15. The contest will be judged by Richard Wilhelm, Somerville poet and writer. The winner will be announced at the The Somerville News Writers Festival, ( Nov. 11) and will receive his or her award. A runner up will be announced as well.