Poems that dive, move, surprise. Lyrical laments. Love poems. Rants with bite. Poems from the “corner of Lyric and Strange.” A “hip-hop sermon/montage” on America and the state of its dream. Sardonic humor. It's all there and more in Jim Bohen's first book of poetry, I travel in rusting burned-out sedans.

It's in slices from a life of writing — remembering the first day of school, singing the rock band blues, growing older, grandparent-hood. It's in the ominous tone that lurks behind the opening poem quiet to the weary rhythmic distress of the closing Cycle.

In between, there are tender looks at the past. bitter rants about injustice and mortality. There's some delightful fun, whether it's playing with a word like “tell,” deciding what to do with the kids' stuff once they've moved out, celebrating a first grandchild with some clever exuberance, or delving into memories of secretly listening for late-night baseball scores on a “hidden” radio.

Sometimes lyrically wistful, occasionally surrealistic, always thoughtful, Bohen's poems probe and preach, smile and reflect, snap and snarl. And wherever the poems travel — to challenging, down-to-earth, dark, funny and more — they bring back insights and give readers a chance to luxuriate in the poet's lifelong love of words, his meant-to-be-read-aloud rhythms and his unique use of rhyme. And everything found in a surprising variety of very satisfying poems.

​With just a few days from the release of Jim Bohen's I travel in rusting burned-out sedans, we wanted to share all of the reading events Bohen will be participating in after the release date:

Nov. 7 (Wed) -- Book Launch for I travel in rusting burned-out sedans
                      Anderson Student Center ("Hearth" Room 340), University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul 55105.
                      [building is on the corner of Summit and Cretin; parking beneath (enter off Cretin, elevator) or in a Grand & Cretin ramp]

Nov. 8 (Th) -- 7:30 pm -- Midstream Reading Series, 3820 E. Lake St., Minneapolis 55406.
                  [above the Blue Moon Coffee Cafe, corner of Lake & 39th Ave. So.; entrance just west of Blue Moon, not wheelchair-accessible,
                   street parking]    -- read with Sigi Leonhard, Jonathan Stensland, Tracy Youngblom.


Nov. 13 (Tu) -- Book Launch for I travel in rusting burned-out sedans
                    Merriam Park Library, 1831 Marshall Ave. (at Fairview), St. Paul 55104.  Small lot or street parking.

Nov. 15 (Th) -- Bridges Reading Series (with 3 other poets), Blue Harbor Center for the Arts, 559 Humboldt Ave. (at George St.), St. Paul 55107.

Nov. 27 (Tu) -- Common Good Books, 30 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul 55105
                     -- reading with Joyce Sutphen (Minnesota's Poet Laureate), Sharon Chmielarz and Norita Dittberner-Jax.

Nov. 28 (Wed) -- SubText Books, 6 West 5th Street, St. Paul 55102
                        -- with Sutphen, Chmielarz, Dittberner-Jax.

Dec. 8 (Sat) -- Eat My Words Books, 214 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis 55413
                     -- with Sutphen, Chmielarz, Dittberner-Jax.

If you loved this, you can read more about Sam Love on his bio page. His book, Cogitation ​is available here.