The Ibbetson Street Press of Somerville recently released a collection of poetry, Dead Beats by Sam Cornish, the first Poet Laureate of Boston. (Too bad Somerville doesn’t have one!) Cornish is an influential African American poet, and is the recipient of an NEA Award, St. Botolph Society Foundation Award, the Ibbetson Street Lifetime Achievement Award, and others. Maya Angelou writes of Cornish: “Sam Cornish …is to poetry what Ray Charles and the song Georgia is to music. Both men were constructed for their art forms.”

To order Cornish’s book send a check or cash to Ibbetson Street Press  25 School Street Somerville, Mass. 02143 $16 post paid. To purchase online go to http://ibbetsonpress.com.

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WAITING TABLES
for Maritta Wolfe

she’s tough and calls
you honey

balancing trays
of steaks

pork chops
ribs

and meat
loaf

fried foods
bad

for you good
to eat wash

down with Coors
and Rolling

Rock   gravy
like grease

in a cold pan
these women

are slamming
and sliding

meat and
count the peas

and broccoli
on tables and you

don’t talk
back    twenty

per cent and

thank you
does not

pay the rent

– Sam Cornish

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To have your work considered for the Lyrical send it to:
Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143.
dougholder@post.harvard.edu