Smoke and Thunder [Paperback]

Jim Chandler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2003

If you're a fan of 'moon, spoon, June' poetry, Smoke & Thunder is not for you. There are no sweet rhymes to be found inside these pages, no saccharine poetics spouted strictly for the sake of linguistic beauty. The free verse here, however lyrical at times, rides the hard edge of the road, having issued from the brain of a man who has pushed himself to dangerous extremes more times than he cares to recall, but always survived for the recounting, torn and tattered though he may have been. Many of the poems here are brutal and unrelenting, rife with tragedy and anger, but always honest to a fault. And yet the true heart of the poet shows through, as in the memorial poem for his father and poems about his grandparents.Whether over coffee in a restaurant with his peers, or passing a bottle of wine around a burn barrel at a junkyard, this poet's home is the world. The more than one hundred poems in Smoke & Thunder, most of which were written during the past two decades, represent a small part of a lifetime's work for a man past 60.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jim Chandler is a former journalist who lives in his native Tennessee and works in freelance writing, editing, publishing and web development. His poems, short stories and articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers during the past 35 years, from small press and college literary journals to major mainstream publications. He is the author of several chapbooks and his poetry appeared in the highly acclaimed The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, a 685-page anthology published by Thunder's Mouth Press in October 1999.Chandler founded Thunder Sandwich magazine in the eighties and currently operates an on-line version of that 'zine, which has included the work of writers and artists ranging from established figures in mainstream art and literature to idols of the post-beat and underground scenes.He is currently working on a novel slated for publication in 2003.

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (March 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410716074
• ISBN-13: 978-1410716071
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,905,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long Overdue, April 15, 2003

By 

Tim Peeler "tpeeler" (Hickory, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoke and Thunder (Paperback)

As much as anyone I know of in the small press, Jim Chandler has paid his dues. Chandler has operated as a kind of southern Bukowski since the early 70's when his work began to appear in magazines and literary journals around the country.

SMOKE AND THUNDER delivers a large sample of his powerful,often raw, yet more often elegant poetry. Chandler moves easily from narrative to elegy to the occasional rant, bearing the reader along with a lyrical sense that is not bound by structure or literary convention.

Chandler best describes himself as a survivalist in his aptly titled "hillbilly rasputin:"
i know now
i go on
i will go on
i cannot
be stopped
by death
the hole
or anything

i am eternal
fire

clutching what
i know
holding it

to heart.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't get much better, April 15, 2003

By 

Earl Dreeson (Los Angeles, CA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoke and Thunder (Paperback)

I began to follow Chandler's poetry after reading it in "The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry," in which he outshined many of the "luminaries" and name poets featured in that book. His words ring with honesty hard to find in a world filled with people dedicated to filling pages with pretty word pictures of little significance. I have no way of knowing, but I would suspect that he had lived many of these poems first hand. All once can say to that idea is, an interesting and varied life makes for interesting poetry. And this book is that.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smoke & Thunder: Poetry by Jim Chandler, June 6, 2003

By 

Janet I. Buck (Medford, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoke and Thunder (Paperback)

Smoke & Thunder is a collection of poetry with vivid, startling imagery and a grounded sense of music one rarely sees in modern verse. Chandler can make you laugh and cry and nod your head in grim recognition all in the space of one stanza. Too few poets have managed to write family poetry without falling in the Hallmark trap - but Chandler, in his poems about his father and grandfather and his grandmother - manages to capture their humanity and deliver them from the fate of plastic saints, handing us the bare bones of loss and the incumbent wisdom of those who have crossed his path. His love poetry is equally dexterous. Deceptively simple lines like the opening of the poem "Churn" serve as the earmarks of his candor and genuine common sense: "what i need is/ a shady spot/ over yonder with/ the woman/ i love." You can't help but be charmed. If you buy one poetry book this year, make it Smoke & Thunder. There is a delightful surprise on every page.