Phillip Giambri

What a wonderful, heartfelt book Phillip Giambri tracks his journey from South Philly kid to East Village raconteur and fixture, stopping along the way to remember the Iceman, horse-drawn delivery wagons, fresh milk from the cow and wine from the basement, high school detention, motorcycles, Mummers Day Parades, debunking Jesus (in a Catholic school 'alternative newsletter' ), nuclear submarines, Off-Off-Broadway, Moroccan hash and, inevitably, sex. Did I mention sex?The cast includes such names as Charlie the Goat Man, Francine the Queer, Uncle Leon, Donnie the Cowboy, and Farmer Dobbs. Also, Chevy Chase, Blythe Danner, Michael Douglas, and Raul Julia, who aren't as much fun as the first group.The stories keep coming and they're funny, fascinating, and real, the taste of a time long gone and sadly so. The language is matter-of-fact and unsentimental, but it casts a spell-the world was not simpler then but people felt that more of their fate was in their own hands, that they could make something of themselves from their own effort. They had simple dignity. Who knew dignity would become so elusive? Giambri's stories resonate far and wide. Don't miss this book-it's a treasure -Ted Krever, Author Swindler and Son: A Heist Misadventure

After months of lockdown in a pandemic malaise I awoke one morning and began writing poems that I dated and posted on Facebook. I had no idea at the time how many poems would emerge or why they happened. It seemed to be my way of dealing with the isolation, loneliness, and depression of the high daily death count in New York City. These poems were my relief valve and I hope that the feelings and emotions expressed are part of a national shared experience and that they may touch others.

"Phillip Giambri is a two-headed fire-breathing dragon, and his first collection of poems and stories mercilessly and mercifully scorch the earth with hope and regret, anger and love, foolishness and cut-out-the-fucking-bullshit-ness, and get real, asshole. They are cynically sentimental, leaving the reader feeling at once hollow and powerless, then fully indestructible. This slim volume goes around world; sometimes in a hot-wired car speeding down a back country road, sometimes in a submarine deep in the Baltic Sea. But whether in a crowded Lower East Side Dive Bar in the 80s or a Scottish Cemetery at the height of the Cold War, Giambri's lean and lusty prose brings both his ordinary and unique experiences to vibrant life." - Russell Atwood, Author "Losers Live Longer."