Customer Reviews

Hiding from Salesmen

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Hiding From Salesmen is a collection of wry poems by Scott Pools that mix humor with quizzical insight and a dash of the fantastic. Black-and-white surrealist illustrations by Robert Helm enhance this unforgettable collection. The Sexy Shakers: Shaker architecture is as simple as sex./Two naked elms in a field wait to be/wooden bowls filled with light./Each scratch visible./Staircases. The sound of rising and descending steps/into clouds of bleached wood./Rows upon rows of plain drawers without labels.//All doors are open. The hinges greased./Cold air dances without music./A Shaker house is as sexual as a waiting skillet.//I don't care what you think./The Shakers are the sexiest people.//All their chairs are empty.

Scott Poole's unique and clever voice shines in this book -- he takes on everything from ordinary life to the unabomber to lunch meat to 9/11, and does it all with extraordinary style and authenticity.

Hiding From Salesmen is one of my most beloved books of poetry. Its funny, otherwordly, and insightful. I smile just at the sight of this book on my shelf.

As in "Cheap Seats", Poole demonstrates not only an amazing control of the written word, but of the universe as a whole. "Hiding from Salesmen" is a book that takes place in the mind of a lunatic, but a lunatic who creates a place you want to be. It is amazing how he takes a reader into places that at first seem striking only for their humor, but under the surface are poignant, touching and illuminating. With a quick turn of phrase Poole shows us that there is emotional clarity in his universe and it is mirrored in our own. Brilliant.