
Hometown,
USA
by Michael Cleary
Publisher:
San
Diego Poets Press
(September 1991)
ISBN:
0931289076
Order
Book
Cover Design
by
Patricia Barnett

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FEATURE
ARTICLES: |
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Tamara
Dietrich, The Post-Star, Glens Falls,
NY |
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The
long-standing lie is that poetry is effeminate. High schoolers
roll their eyes and cough up “yucks” and adamantly
don’t get it.
Better
they should read Michael Cleary, a Glens Fallsian born and
bred. In high school Cleary was a jock of such high caliber
he once inspired a sports writer to poetry, himself. Today
he’s an award-winning writer who dispels the lie that
poetry is obscure or all “roses and sunsets.”
more... |
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Lourdes
Rodriguez-Florido, The Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale,
FL |
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Michael
Cleary sat in his office at Broward Community College and
talked about writing. The English professor had just realized
one reason he writes poetry. “I was one of those people
in high school not able to sing,” Cleary said. “Poetry
is a lot about sound. It’s almost like singing if you
put the words together right. Maybe it’s the same type
of frustration—I can’t sing, so I’ll write.”
more... |
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Martin
Moynihan, Albany Times-Union, Albany, NY
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In
1944, the war was raging and LOOK Magazine wanted
to take a close-up look at the home front. They chose Glens
Falls for what would be a six-part community profile called
“Hometown, USA.” more... |
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Bill
Pike, The Corinthian, Corinth, NY, Sports Page |
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Oh,
what a wonderful flying blue horse—
You’ve probably seen him before.
Perhaps while we weep,
Mick Cleary has sweeped
With the ball the length of the floor.
more... |
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REVIEWS: |
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Gayl
Teller, Small Press Review |
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Grounded
in the daily life of Glens Falls, NY, where Michael Cleary
was raised, Cleary’s poetic vision of his Hometown,
USA is lyrical, unblinking, often mettlesome
counterpoint to LOOK Magazine’s more traditionally
conceived profile of Glens Falls as an American microcosm
in its six-part series “Hometown, USA” in 1944.
more... |
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Bruce
Thomas Boehrer, Apalachee Quarterly |
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Life
in small-town America can turn at any moment into a kind of
intellectual seppuku. It does not have to, of course,
but there is always the possibility that it will: that the
town itself will replace the world in one’s imagination
and that the town’s values and rhythms will come to
invalidate other sorts of experience. more... |
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Brian
Daldorph, Coal City Review |
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Michael
Cleary grew up in Glens Falls, New York, and now lives in
Plantation, Florida, and the poems of Hometown,
USA richly evoke Cleary’s experiences
of these two places.” more... |
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POEMS: |
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Plastic
Flamingos |
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Catholic
Girls |
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Aunt
Sara on Valentine’s Night |
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READER
CORRESPONDENCE: |
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Andy
Rooney |
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Tom
Smith |
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ORDER:
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Order
Hometown, USA |
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Printable
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