Rubber Side Down: The Biker Poet Anthology [Paperback]

Jose JoeGo Gouveia (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1931122199 | ISBN-13: 978-1931122191 | Publication Date: August 4, 2008

Rubber Side Down combines poetry, essays and photography to challenge the stereotype of the bad boy biker and chronicle the rise of the biker poet and biker poetry. Like cowboy poetry, biker poetry seems a genre on the rise. The book traces the beginnings of biker poetry to a poetry throwdown of sorts on a farm in Colorado in 1975, attended by an assortment of bikers and hippies and a young Hunter S. Thompson. The contributors to this book include the late Allen Ginsberg and Thom Gunn, Diane Wakoski, and a host of writers from the motorcycle press, including Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum (Harley-Davidson Historian Emeritus), Susan Buck, and K. Peddlar Bridges. In addition, a special photo section has been provided by noted motorcycle photographer, Michael Lichter ( Choppers, Heavy Metal Art and others). Rubber Side Down pushes beyond the typical image of the biker and shows that the biker community is made up of professional individuals from all walks of life and countries across the world, and highlights the emergence of biker poetry.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jose JoeGo Gouveia has an MFA in Poetry from New England College and has served as Poet-In-Residence at Cape Cod Community College. He is the founder of the Biker Poets & Writers Association, hosts a weekly poetry radio show in Provincetown, MA., writes a monthly poetry column for the Barnstable Patriot newspaper, and hosts a poetry venue in Hyannis.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Archer Books (August 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931122199
• ISBN-13: 978-1931122191
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,627,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hit the Road, Feel the Wind, May 1, 2009

By 

S. Agusto-Cox "Savvy Verse & Wit" (Germantown, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rubber Side Down: The Biker Poet Anthology (Paperback)

Jose "JoeGo" Gouveia's Rubber Side Down: The Biker Poet Anthology is one of the best contemporary poetry anthologies on the market. These poems will appeal to not only deep thinkers, but also readers looking for detailed aesthetics. While most of us will never know what it's like to be hounded by cops, some of these poems will allow readers to live the biker life vicariously.

Bikers tend to be like brothers, easily accepting of their members no matter what location they find themselves in. These poems signify the lonely road these poets travel, the hardships they face, and the beauty of the road.

In addition to the poems celebrating brotherhood and connection, some of these poems celebrate famous bikers like Evel Knievel, the evolution of bikes, and women enchanted by the biker life. Some of these poems rhyme, and rhyme well--with an easy rhythm. These poems have a life of their own, and many of them will make you want to read them out loud for emphasis like in "Highway Poets (theme poem)" by K. Peddlar Bridges (page 80) where the lines read: "We're motorcycle riding/Engine blasting/Line chasing/Gravel chewing/Bug spitting//HIGHWAY . . . POETS!"

Others are simply laugh-out-loud funny, readers should buy a copy simply to read "The Six-Legged Moose." (I'm purposefully not including this poem in the review to entice you to get this anthology.)

Rubber Side Down is a compilation of witty verse dealing with a number of issues including how bikers deal with aging and the prospect of no longer riding and the freedom of riding and how it makes it difficult to settle back into a "normal" life. Moreover, Rubber Side Down is set up in a format that provides readers with poems and photos of actual bikers in alternating sections, which enables readers to ponder the poems while examining the visual context of these poets' lives. Each of these biker poets knows poetic style and form and how to break convention without losing their audience, and Rubber Side Down will appeal to more than just bikers and their families.

Rubber Side Down packs a punch and made me want to get that ape hanger I've always talked about and go for a ride.